Accidentally In Love
by OrtonsMistress
Summary: Jenny Shepard is the probie on Agent Gibbs' team. What happens when his 12 year old daughter Kelly, and the new forensic scientist Abby try and push them together? Will sparks fly? Or are they just destined to not be together? Starts out before Paris.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Thanks to my beta JibbsGal1 for giving me the encouragement I needed to try and write this. It won't be updated as frequently as In Your Arms, but I will try and keep up with this as well. Oh and for this fic, I'm changing Kelly's age a little bit to fit my story better.

****NCIS****

_1998_

"Daddy, pleeeease let me go to work with you today," a 12-year-old Kelly Gibbs whined, following her dad around in their basement. "Decker and Pacci told me that you guys have a new forensic girl and that she wears these really weird clothes, but that she's super nice. I just want to see her."

"Kelly, no," Gibbs said, mentally vowing to give Decker and Pacci severe head slaps today.

"I don't want to go over to Maddie's; she's sick and it won't be any fun."

"Fine, I will let you come with me. Just don't make me regret it, young lady," he grumbled, knowing he didn't need a sick child on his hands. It seemed like Kelly and Maddie shared everything, including colds.

"Thanks Daddy," she smiled, hugging him tightly before running upstairs to grab some things to take with her that day.

****NCIS****

Around 9:30 that morning, Kelly walked into the squad room with Gibbs, smirking lightly when she saw Stan Burley trying to hit on her dad's newest Probie, a pretty red-head named Jenny Shepard. Before Stan could try and ask her in another failed attempt for a date, Gibbs smacked the back of his head. "Watch it Burley," he grumbled, walking over to his desk.

"Daddy, can Jenny take me down to meet the new science girl?" Kelly asked, having taken a liking to the newest agent.

"Yeah, that's fine. Just remember to behave," he said, not really knowing why he said it, as he never had any trouble out of Kelly before-but he said it nevertheless.

"Duh Dad," she said, rolling her eyes playfully before grabbing Jenny's arm and pulling her to the back elevators to go to the forensics lab.

"So how did you talk your dad into bringing you today?" Jenny asked, looking down at the young girl.

"Maddie's got a cold, and I really don't want to get sick during my summer vacation-so I had no place else to go today."

"Does your mom work too?" she asked, not knowing about her boss' wife's fate.

"She died when I was a little girl," Kelly mumbled, as they got onto the elevator. "When Daddy got sent to Kuwait the last time, he got stationed at Camp Pendleton so Mom wanted to follow him out there. After he left, she saw a Marine get killed by a drug guy. She was supposed to testify at the trial, and NIS was sent to protect us. The agent driving our van got shot and killed and then we wrecked. Mom died in the accident; I ended up with a broken arm and some cuts."

"Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry," Jenny said, feeling bad for upsetting the young girl.

"It's okay; it doesn't bother me as much as it used to."

"Okay," she replied, hugging Kelly to her side.

Before anything else was said, the elevator stopped and they got out and heard loud death metal music coming from inside the lab. Looking up at Jenny questioningly, Kelly couldn't help but ask, "Are the guys sure she's really nice?"

Chuckling softly, Jenny shook her head lightly at her. "Yes, Kelly, she's really nice. She just has a, quirky, personality."

"Okay."

Walking into the lab, Jenny had to yell to be heard over the music. "Abby!"

"Oh hi, Agent Shepard. What brings you down here? You guys don't have a case yet," Abby Scuito asked, looking at her questioningly.

"This is Agent Gibbs' daughter, Kelly," she replied, gesturing to the girl beside her. "Decker and Chris told her a little bit about you, so she wanted to meet you for herself."

"Do you ever fall in those shoes?" Kelly asked, before her brain could really kick in. "Oops, sorry."

"It's okay, kid, I get asked weird questions all the time," Abby laughed, not taking her question to heart. "Answering it though, I've not fallen yet."

"So are you like a happy Goth?" she asked, looking at her quizzically. "Cause my friend Sarah, her brother is into Goth, but he never smiles or talks really."

"Oh, I'm not a Goth," she answered, shaking her head and making her pigtails move.

"So then why do you dress like that?" Kelly inquired, leaving Jenny no doubt in her mind that Kelly would probably grow up to be an NCIS agent as well, using her own father's interrogation techniques.

"I just like it."

"Okay."

'Dodged a bullet on that one,' Jenny thought to herself, knowing Gibbs had mentioned before just how inquisitive his daughter could get.

Before anyone could say anything else, Gibbs appeared almost out of thin air as far as Abby was concerned. "Jenny, let's go. We've got a dead Marine at Rock Creek Park," he said, looking at the red head. "Kelly, Uncle Tom said you could sit up in his office till I get back."

"Can't I stay down here with Abby, Daddy?" she asked, batting her blue eyes at him hopefully.

"It's okay with me, Gibbs."

"All right, but don't get in her way; she'll have work to do when we get back."

"Thanks Daddy," Kelly said, smiling at him brightly. Once Gibbs and Jenny had left, the young girl turned to her new friend. "How good are you at scheming, Abby?"

"Why? What do you want to do?"

"Get my dad away from the evil step monster, Diane, and get him to see that he and Jenny would be perfect for each other."

"I don't know, kid. That sounds like something that could essentially backfire on us," she replied hesitantly, not knowing the gruff special agent well enough to butt into his personal life just yet. "I'd love to live to see the Brain Matter concert I got tickets for next month."

"Come on, Abby, pleeeeease," Kelly begged, knowing that she and Maddie wouldn't be able to pull it off on their own. "He doesn't really love Diane. I'm not even sure WHY he married her. Can you just find out if they're going to get divorced? She hasn't been home for like the last two weeks."

"All right, I'll think of something to ask him. I can pretend I don't know he's married, figure out some questions to ask him."

"Thanks Abby, you're awesome."

****NCIS****

Later on that night, Gibbs and Kelly were on their way home after stopping to pick up some pizza for dinner, when she popped off with an unusual question. "Can you let Jenny take me shopping for school clothes this year?"

"Um, sure. Why?"

"Well, I like her better than I like Diane. We have fun hanging out and laughing about you," she replied, smiling at him innocently. "Besides, I don't think going shopping with Diane would be in my best interests."

"It can't be all that bad, can it?" he asked, not knowing about the debacle that happened when Diane took her shopping for new summer clothes.

"She said just about everything I tried on looked slutty," she said, changing the words around a little bit, hoping to get him to see that Diane wasn't really as nice to Kelly as the 'evil step monster' let on.

"She said what?" he exclaimed, swerving the car a bit on the road, when he heard what his wife had said to his daughter.

"Yeah, said that the shorts I tried on were something that only a whore would wear and that the tank tops practically screamed easy," she replied, smirking mentally at how easy this was. Diane had really said that the clothes Kelly had picked out were slutty, but Kelly was adding a few extra things here and there, knowing her dad would believe her before he believed Diane.

"Fine, you can ask Jenny if she will take you," he growled, fully intending on strangling Diane when he saw her again. "If not, see if Mrs. Tyler will take you when she takes Maddie."

"Great, thanks Daddy."

"Welcome sweetie."

****NCIS****

The next few weeks went by without much incident. Of course Diane vehemently denied saying anything like that to Kelly about her clothes, but Gibbs could tell that she was lying to an extent. He also knew that Kelly may have embellished the story a bit, but he wasn't going to get onto her about it. Kelly had spent a lot of her free time down in Abby's lab, with the pretense toward Gibbs of being interested in the forensics of the cases, but really they were just working and plotting 'Operation Get Rid of Diane.'

Of course Kelly being Gibbs' daughter, she had everything plotted and written down in a notebook, nothing too malicious or could actually cause her to get hurt but Kelly just wanted her gone. She knew in her heart that Jenny would be the perfect fit into their little family. It was only a matter of time, she deemed, before her dad and Jenny realized the same thing. She hoped that when Jenny took her shopping the next week, that she could talk her into staying for dinner with them and maybe getting her dad to see that they could both benefit from having the red headed agent in their lives.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews so far. I'm glad that you all are enjoying this story. If you love Jibbs, then feel free to check out my other Jibbs fic In Your Arms. It takes place after the explosive season 9 finale, with no Vance, Jenny is still director there. Without further adieu, here is chapter 2.

****NCIS****

"Thanks for taking me shopping today, Jenny," Kelly said, as they walked out to her 1956, candy apple red Thunderbird convertible. "Wow, I love your car."

"Thanks kiddo. It was my father's."

"Dad gave you the money, right?"

"Yes Kelly, I have it in my purse."

"Good, cause if I don't remind him, he'll forget a lot."

"Do you know where you want to shop at first?" she asked, as they headed toward the shopping mall.

"Can we go to Kohl's first?" Kelly asked, looking over at her. "That's where Maddie got her outfit to wear on the first day. We're going to wear the same thing, just in different colors."

"Sure, then we can head into the mall if you want."

"Yeah, cause Dad usually gets my shoes at Sears. I need to get two pairs of gym shoes and a pair of boots if they have them out now."

"Okay, sounds like a plan," she replied, as Kelly started messing with the radio.

"Do you care if I turn it on?" she asked, realizing then she wasn't with her dad and should probably ask.

"Nah, it's fine sweetie."

After spending a few hours shopping at Kohl's and various stores in the mall, Jenny and Kelly decided to go eat lunch in the food court. "You're a lot more fun to shop with than Diane is," Kelly said, popping a couple fries into her mouth. "She's always in such a hurry to get home. Don't tell Daddy I told you this, but she doesn't even stay at the house hardly anymore. When she does, it's always to yell at Dad for never being home."

"Well, I'm enjoying spending time with you too," Jenny replied, unsure how to take all the information Kelly just told her. "Do you ever have to stay with her when your dad is working?"

"No, I usually go over to Maddie's and stay there-Mrs. Tyler calls me her other daughter."

"Best friends and their families are good like that, huh?"

"Yeah," she replied thoughtfully. "Can I tell you something else, and you not tell my dad? The last thing I want is to make him have a heart attack cause of the evil step-monster."

"Sure sweetie," Jenny replied, hoping that whatever it was, it wasn't something harming Kelly's safety.

"I heard her talking to someone on the phone. She's trying to find out if she divorces Dad, if she has any legal right to my trust fund, since he's on it till I turn 25," she said, shuddering lightly as she thought about the conversation that her and Maddie had overheard a few days prior.

"Kelly, you need to say something to your dad. He needs to be made aware of this."

"I'm just worried what she may cause him to do."

"Honey, he loves you. He will not do anything to take himself away from you permanently," Jenny said, trying to reason with the young girl.

"Will you stay for dinner tonight so I can tell him?"

"Um, sure, if that's what you want."

"Thanks Jenny!" Kelly exclaimed, leaning over and giving her a hug.

****NCIS****

Later that night, after Jenny and Kelly had spent practically the entire afternoon shopping, they headed back to Kelly's house. When Jenny pulled into the driveway, Kelly let out an audible groan. "What's she doing here?"

"Diane's car?"

"Yes," she grumbled, not looking all that thrilled that Diane was there. "I can't tell Dad with her there. It will just lead to her yelling at me, then Dad yelling at her."

"Tell you what," she began, turning off the car as they both started to get out. "Come to work with your dad tomorrow. We'll go down to autopsy and have Ducky there with us. We can tell him then. He can't go TOO postal with a bunch of federal agents in the building with him."

"Okay, thanks Jenny," she said, grabbing up her bags from the trunk. "I really had fun today."

"So did I Kelly."

"See you tomorrow," she said, heading up the front walk to the house. Going inside, she wasn't surprised to hear her dad and Diane arguing. Hoping to sneak upstairs before Diane could see her, and no doubt tell her that everything she bought for school was distasteful and not something a 12-year-old should wear-but what someone on the street corner would. She had just made it to the top of the landing when Gibbs came in from the kitchen and saw his daughter.

"Kel, call Maddie and see if you can spend the night, tonight."

"All right, Daddy," she replied quietly, more determined than ever to get rid of Diane so she could see her dad happy again-even if he didn't end up with Jenny right away. Diane was going to kill every last shred of happiness he had, that much Kelly was convinced of.

After calling over at Maddie's and finding out that she and her brothers were still visiting their grandparents in New York City, Kelly made one more call.

"Jenny, can I come stay with you tonight?" Kelly asked softly, not sure what else she could do.

"Kelly, is that you?" Jenny questioned, as her voice had barely been over a whisper when she asked. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

"Dad and Diane are fighting, and he wanted me to go to Maddie's, but she's not home from her grandparents' house in New York yet."

"Okay Kelly; give me about an hour and I can come back and get you."

"All right, I'll be waiting outside."

"Don't worry sweetie, your dad is going to be fine," Jenny said, trying to sound reassuring. "He just probably doesn't want you to have to hear everything."

"Okay, I'll see you in an hour," she replied, before saying goodbye and hanging up the phone. Walking down to her room, she quickly packed an overnight bag, making sure to grab her portable CD player and her CD holder, so she'd have something to do at NCIS the next day. Going out of her room, she walked downstairs and saw her dad and Diane screaming at each other in the living room.

"You just give that little brat anything she wants!" Diane shouted, raising Gibbs' blood pressure by a lot.

"Do NOT talk about my daughter like that," he growled lowly, as Kelly stared horrified by what she was seeing.

"Daddy, Jenny will be here soon to pick me up," she mumbled softly, causing his head to whip around at her. "Maddie's still in New York with her grandparents, so Jenny said I could call her anytime, and she said she would come get me."

"Okay baby, I will call you later," he said, coming over and hugging her protectively. "Love you."

"Love you too."

After Kelly had gone outside and sat on the porch swing, she could hear her dad and Diane's arguing starting back up again. Of course a lot of Diane's argument was about Kelly, in turn pissing Gibbs off tremendously, which caused him to scream back at her. By the time Jenny arrived, Kelly's tears were falling unchecked down her face.

"Kelly, sweetie. What's wrong?" Jenny asked, getting out of the car and going to hug her.

"Diane keeps saying horrible things about me to Dad," she whispered, hugging Jenny around the waist tightly. "She keeps calling me a spoiled little brat and stuff. I think I heard her say something about not signing the divorce papers that Dad was going to get."

"Come on, honey, we'll get you out of here," Jenny said, ushering her to the car, knowing that she didn't need to hear more of Diane's hurtful words. "We'll order pizza for dinner and have a bunch of ice cream afterwards."

"Thanks Jenny."

****NCIS****

After staying up till almost midnight, pigging out on pizza and ice cream, Jenny showed Kelly the finer techniques of wearing make-up, letting her know that less was better and giving each other manicures. They went to sleep knowing they had their work cut out for them the next day telling Gibbs about Diane's plans to try and get Kelly's trust fund.

When Kelly and Jenny arrived at NCIS the next morning, they found Gibbs in the squad room looking over some cold case files.

"Daddy," Kelly said, going over to his desk and hugging him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah baby, I'm fine. Are you okay?"

Nodding her head a bit, she replied, "Yeah, Jenny and I had fun last night."

"You got a great little girl, Gibbs," Jenny said, smiling at the pair.

"She's just like her mom," he replied, placing a kiss on the top of Kelly's head.

"Daddy, can we go down and see Ducky?" Kelly asked, knowing that she and Jenny needed to tell him, and she was now afraid of his reaction.

"Yeah, let's go now. I don't need you freaking out over any bodies that he's working on."

****NCIS****

Once they had arrived in autopsy, Gibbs looked at Jenny weirdly, wondering why she had followed them down.

"Hiya Ducky," Kelly said, going over and hugging the older Scotsman.

"Hello Kelly," he said, returning her hug.

"Gibbs, Kelly has something she needs to tell you," Jenny started, as Kelly looked at her newly painted fingernails, almost as if they held an immense fascination for her.

"Kells, what's wrong?"

"I don't want you to get upset and start yelling like you were last night," she started, slowly chickening out of telling him.

"I promise, I won't get upset like that."

"Okay," she mumbled, before taking a deep breath and rushing out what she had to say. "I heard Diane saying to someone on the phone that she won't divorce you until she can find out if she can get my trust fund since you're on it."

"Kelly, are you sure you heard her right?" he asked, feeling his temper rising a bit but trying to keep a neutral face so he didn't scare Kelly.

"Positive. Maddie heard it too," she said, looking him in the eye. "We were coming in the back door to get something to drink, and she was in the living room on the phone."

"Kells, she can't get a hold of your trust fund; so don't you worry about that."

"I know Daddy, I just want her to go away," she mumbled, as he hugged her to him tightly. "She makes you not smile anymore, like after Mommy died."

"We'll get this worked out, don't worry," he whispered, kissing the top of her head. "I'll make her sign the divorce papers."

Standing off to the side quietly, Jenny and Ducky let father and daughter have their time together, both knowing that this situation was a lot harder on Kelly than the young girl would ever let on.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I kind of got carried away working on ideas for later chapters in the story, that I neglected working on writing chapters to update now. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews and feedback for the story so far. It was only intended to be a small fic that I worked on when I didn't have ideas for In Your Arms-however the muse took over on this and I can't stop now.

****NCIS****

After making sure that Kelly would be okay with Abby, Gibbs pulled out his cell phone and called Diane. "What the hell is the matter with you?" he yelled as soon as he heard her voice on the other end.

"Leroy, what are you talking about?"

"I know you want to get your greedy little hands on Kelly's trust fund."

"What trust fund?" she asked, trying to appear innocent.

"Cut the act, Diane," he grumbled, not in the mood to put up with her fake act. "Kelly and Maddie heard you on the phone; they know what you're up to as well."

"Oh sure, take that little brat's side instead of your wife."

"Pack your shit and get the hell out of my house by tonight, or anything that's left will get tossed in the yard," he growled, before slamming his phone shut.

"Jethro, do you want me to keep Kelly again tonight?" he heard Jenny ask. He'd forgotten that she was in the squad room with him.

"Yeah, if you don't mind," he replied, knowing that Diane wouldn't be out of his house before he got home. He didn't want her screaming at Kelly.

"Okay, well I will just take her to Wal-Mart and get her stuff to keep at my house," she said, knowing that taking Kelly by her own house with a pissed off Diane was not in the best interest of the young girl.

"Thanks, Jen."

****NCIS****

Pulling into his driveway that night, Gibbs cringed when he saw Diane's car still sitting in the driveway. Wondering if she'd even made any headway with getting her crap out, he walked into the house-not at all prepared for the seven iron that came hurling at his head. "You bastard!" Diane exclaimed, as she looked far more psychotic than Gibbs had ever seen her.

"What the hell, Diane?" he asked, holding his hand on his head, hoping to stop the blood from gushing onto the floor. Fixing a glare on her, he growled. "Get your shit and get the hell out of my house now."

"I hope you and that little brat of yours are happy together," she spat, before throwing in one last dig. "Of course you sleeping with one of your agents sets a real good example for her. Better be careful who you let Kelly get close to Leroy, she could end up a home-wrecking tramp like Jenny Shepard."

"Expect to hear from my lawyer soon," he said, keeping his intense glare on her. "For the record, I'm not sleeping with her. As for Kelly, I'd rather she be influenced by someone like Jenny than you. All you know how to do is tear down any shred of self-confidence a 12-year-old girl has."

"Hmph," she muttered, before grabbing her purse and keys and walking out the front door.

Going over to the couch, Gibbs pulled out his cell phone and collapsed down on the cushion. Calling Ducky, he waited for the Scotsman to answer. Once he had talked to him, he asked him to come over and stitch him up. He promised to tell him what happened once he got there. Next, Gibbs called Jenny to check on Kelly.

"Hey Daddy," Kelly giggled, answering Jenny's cell phone.

"Hey Kells. Why are you answering Jenny's phone?" he asked, trying to block the pain out of his voice.

"Cause Jenny saw it was your number and handed it to me."

"All right, well are you having fun?"

"Yeah, we stopped and rented some movies to watch tonight.

"Okay, well I will see you tomorrow," he said, as Ducky knocked on the door before walking inside.

"All right, love you."

"I love you too, Kells."

****NCIS****

"So she hit you with the golf club as you walked in the front door?" Ducky asked, as he and Gibbs were sitting around drinking bourbon after he had stitched Gibbs' head.

"Yeah, she was pissed I was throwing her out, once Kelly told me what she was trying to do."

"Jethro, just be careful now," he said worriedly, having seen the attachment that Kelly was forming to Jenny.

"Trust me, Duck, I'm not getting involved with anyone again for a while."

"All right."

****NCIS****

The next couple of weeks went by without much incident. Gibbs of course lied about his head wound, so he didn't scare Kelly or make her feel guilty cause of what she'd heard. He just told her that he was chasing down a perp, and they clocked him with the handle of their gun.

"Kells, come on. You need to get up and get ready for school," Gibbs said, shaking her shoulder gently.

"I hate the first day of school," she mumbled, as it was always an adjustment getting back into the schedule of going to bed early and waking up way too early as well.

"I know you do, but just think you'll be used to this again in no time."

"Yeah, I know," she replied as she got out of bed and walked over to her closet to get one of her new outfits to wear.

"Meet you downstairs for breakfast."

"All right."

Once Kelly got downstairs, she grabbed her cereal and went over to the counter to fix herself a bowl. "Am I going over to Maddie's after school today?"

"Yeah, I shouldn't be too long but just in case I am, I don't want you here by yourself," he said, worried that Diane may try and do something. He wouldn't put it past her, especially since he was serving her with divorce papers.

"Can I ask Maddie today if she wants to go camping with us over Labor Day weekend?" she asked, looking at him hopefully. "Did you find out if we'll be able to go?"

"Uh huh, it's my weekend off so we can leave after you girls get out of school Friday."

"Cool, I can't wait."

****NCIS****

"Come on Jenny, just admit you would like to go on a date with me," Stan said, as he'd been trying all morning to get her to agree to one date.

"Stan, I'd really hate to have to keelhaul you right now," Jenny said, her patience wearing thin that morning. "You are so far from my type."

"Ouch!" Decker exclaimed, as he walked into the squad room then, hearing the end of Jenny's statement. "That had to be a helluva low-blow there Burley."

Before Stan could reply to either Decker or Jenny's statements, Gibbs walked into the squad room. "Grab your gear. We've got a dead Petty Officer aboard the USS Roosevelt."

"Coming boss," Decker said, as they started walking out of the bull pen.

"Burley, Rule #12," Gibbs said lowly, before smacking him upside the head.

"Heh," Jenny laughed, as she got onto the elevator.

"So what is your type Shepard?" Decker asked, causing her to smirk at Gibbs before replying.

"Not you either, Decker."

****NCIS****

"Kelly, you should talk your dad into getting you tickets to see Backstreet Boys for your birthday," Maddie said, looking over at Kelly as they were getting their things out of their lockers at the end of the day.

"Yeah, that'd be so cool," Kelly replied, putting her bag on her shoulder. "He keeps asking me what I want."

"So there you go," she said, looking over at her as she closed her locker. "Is Diane totally gone from your house now?"

"Yeah, he was talking to Ducky the other night and told him that he was sending Diane the divorce papers yesterday or today."

"Good, then we don't have to worry about her coming along on the camping trip next weekend."

"Yeah, hopefully you're allowed to come," she said, as Maddie still had to ask her parents before she could.

"So now that Operation Get Rid of Diane is done, how are you going to get your dad and Jenny together?"

"I don't know yet. We can figure it out when we go camping."

****NCIS****

Later that night, Gibbs and his team were finally done. The case was pretty easy once they'd figured out that the Petty Officer owed some money on gambling debts-one of them being to another Petty Officer on the Roosevelt who decided to kill him when he found out that he didn't have his money.

"We have a sexual harassment class at 0830 tomorrow morning," Gibbs said, looking at his team before they left. "Do not be late, director's orders."

"Way to go, Stan," Jenny teased, looking over at him playfully. "Now that you've tried to get with every female agent in this building, we have to suffer through endless lectures on how to handle sexual harassment."

"Oh please, this is not my fault."

"Right, so to handle what you said to me today, let's go find a boat so I can keelhaul you."

"All right you guys, head on out of here now," Gibbs said, wanting to go pick up Kelly and get some dinner.

"See ya, boss," Decker said, as he quickly grabbed his things and headed off to the elevators with Stan-who was trying to get away from Jenny quickly.

"Have you heard from Kelly since she got out of school?" Jenny asked, walking over to Gibbs' desk with her things.

"Yeah, she called to say she got to Maddie's okay. I didn't get to talk to her for long though," he replied, looking up at her.

"Oh," she nodded. Her gaze fell to Gibbs' ass in his jeans, when he turned his back to her. 'Yeah, he is definitely my type' she thought to herself-ruggedly handsome, silver haired fox-not to mention his take-no-BS attitude.

"Did you want to call her later?" he asked, looking up at her then, bringing her out of her less than professional thoughts.

"Yeah, I'll call her later," she replied, looking away from him. "I'm going to stop at the gym on my way home, so it'll be a couple hours."

"Okay, see you tomorrow, Jen," he said, as he headed toward the elevator-leaving Jenny to get lost in her wandering thoughts again.

****NCIS****

"Daddy, Mrs. Tyler said Maddie can go camping with us." They were sitting at the table eating dinner. "She'll just spend the night Thursday night, so that way her stuff is already here."

"Okay, that's fine."

"I know what I want for my birthday," she told him, twirling the spaghetti around her fork.

"What's that?" he asked, smiling at her in amusement.

"Tickets to the Backstreet Boys concert," she replied, looking up at him. "You can get three tickets, so I can take Maddie too."

"We'll see."

"Oh, for my English paper I have to write about what my parents do for work. Can I follow you and your team, well mostly you and Jenny? Cause Stan and Deck will make me fail my paper probably-seeing as they like to get into trouble."

"Kel, when we're out on a case, Stan and Decker actually work."

"Okay, so I want to follow you and Jenny around. You're my dad and Jenny is a lot more fun than those yahoos."

"Finish your dinner," he laughed, shaking his head at her.

****NCIS****

That night after Jenny got home from the gym, she spoke with Kelly. After she found out how her first day of school was, Jenny practically crashed onto her bed in exhaustion. She was so tired that she forgot to turn the volume up on her phone-making her miss a phone call from Gibbs around 0200.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

****NCIS****

"Shepard!" Gibbs yelled, banging on Jenny's brownstone door a little after 0300 that morning. He had been trying to call her for an hour; getting no answer he was pissed off. He had to drop Kelly off at the Tyler's house, and now he had to go track down his probie agent. To top it off, he had a slight headache still from the bourbon he drank the night before, and his coffee place wasn't open yet. "Damn it Jenny; open up!"

Hearing a loud noise downstairs, Jenny was startled back to reality. She had been having a less than innocent dream about Gibbs. Grabbing her SIG out of her nightstand, she quickly threw on her robe and walked out of her room quietly. Getting to the bottom of the stairs, she was just getting ready to look out the peephole, when the door came flying open; barely giving her enough time to jump back. "Jethro! What in the hell are you doing breaking into my house?" she exclaimed, seeing her boss standing on her doorstep.

"Well, if someone had answered their phone in the last hour and fifteen, I wouldn't have to break into your house," he replied gruffly as he pushed his way inside. "Get dressed; we've got a dead petty officer and his wife and son are missing."

"All right, I'll be down in a few minutes," she replied looking up at him; a slightly irritated look on her face. Of course she was trying to hide the faint blush from her dream, which was still racing through her mind.

Watching her go upstairs, Gibbs wondered with a slight smirk just what she was wearing under that short green robe that brought out her eyes.

****NCIS****

Arriving at Petty Officer Lance Davidson's house, Jenny was still trying to pull her hair back into a ponytail; something she couldn't get done with Gibbs erratic driving. "Look, I'm sorry I missed your calls. I was just really tired, and forgot to turn my phone up after I left the gym last night."

"Don't apologize it's-" he started, when she cut him off.

"A sign of weakness; I know," she sighed, rolling her eyes as he got out of the car, slamming the door shut behind him.

'Why exactly do I think he's my type?' she asked herself, as she got out of the car, making sure she had the camera in her bag. 'Oh yeah, he's got a nice ass in those jeans he wears-not to mention the intense blue eyes of his.'

"Well, you finally made it to Gibbs' shit list," Stan laughed, as Jenny walked inside the house. He was promptly met with her elbow connecting with his stomach. "Omph, what was that for?"

"Being a world class asshole."

"That hurts, Jenny," he said, pretending to be wounded by her words.

"Yeah okay," she laughed, as she started taking pictures of Petty Officer Davidson's body lying on the floor, two bullet holes in his back. "Gibbs, for a crime scene, this looks pretty staged."

"Why do you say that, Jen?" he asked, looking over at her.

"Well, look at the television," she started, pointing at the knocked over set. "The screen's glass isn't broken."

"Okay, what else?" he pressed, having thought the same thing already; he just wanted to see what her suspicions were.

"Why are only a few things in the living room in disarray? If this was a robbery, or a surprise home invasion, more things would be destroyed," she said, looking over at him. "He knew who his killer was; he was comfortable enough to turn his back to them."

"Sounds plausible."

"I think when we find his wife-we'll find the killer," she said, hoping that nothing had happened to the Petty Officer's son.

"All right," he said, not letting her know that he had the same hunch about the wife and the staged crime scene. "Duck, you got a time of death for me?"

"Between 2130 and midnight. I will know more once we get him back home."

"Thanks, Duck."

****NCIS****

Later that morning, Kelly and Maddie were both getting ready for school. "Mads, can I borrow your black sandals today?" Kelly asked, not sure if she was going to wear them that day or not.

"Can you borrow my tan strappy ones?" she asked, as she walked back into her room wearing a red tank top and black skirt, with said black sandals on.

"I would if I could find them," Kelly teased, as Maddie was the notorious slob between the two. "How can you stand your room to be like this?"

"I know where everything is," she shrugged, walking over to her desk and pulling out the sandals from underneath it.

"If we share a dorm in college, I will hurt you if our room looks like this in any way, shape or form."

"Yeah okay," Maddie replied, rolling her eyes playfully. "So where did your dad have to go this morning?"

"Something about some dead Petty Officer, but he was more grumbly about Jenny not answering her phone. He had to go to her house and get her up."

"Maybe they went back home to her place after they solved the case," she said, looking over at her.

"Maddie, get serious. I doubt they have the case solved already," Kelly replied, pulling her hair back on the sides. "I didn't get here till like after three sometime. It's only 7:45 now."

"How do you want to get them together?" she asked, as both girls finished getting ready and walked downstairs with their backpacks.

"I don't know," she replied, as they went into the kitchen where Mrs. Tyler was making pancakes for everyone. "It can't be too obvious to Jenny; but dad is a little dense when it comes to stuff like this."

"How about you invite Jenny to your piano recital?"

"Yeah, I could, but there are too many other people around," she said, not sure how well that would work.

"What if you tell your dad you want to have a slumber party for your birthday?" Maddie suggested, glancing at the stove area to make sure her mom wasn't listening. "Tell him that Jenny said she would help him out that night. We'll invite a bunch of our friends. You just handle your dad, and I'll take care of Jenny."

"All right," she said, as Mrs. Tyler brought their pancakes over to them so they could eat and get to school.

****NCIS****

Gibbs team and several other agents, along with Abby, Ducky and Director Morrow were sitting in the upstairs conference room for their sexual harassment class. They had just watched a film on how to identify sexual harassment in the workplace-a film that had started to put both Abby and Will to sleep. Jenny sat doodling on the handout sheet, drawing a puppy playing fetch in the park. The entire team was exhausted, having been working the murdered Petty Officer case since the early hours of the morning. She was brought out of her doodling when Stan raised his hand to ask a question.

"So if a co-worker threatens to take you out at night and, let's say, keelhaul you-is that considered sexual harassment?" he asked, as Jenny shot him a scathing glare, making Decker and Gibbs have to hold back their chuckles.

"Can we get back on topic please?" The woman leading the class was losing patience, as they had apparently gone through a few ridiculous questions before Stan's really stupid one, in Jenny's opinion. "Red light behavior consists of a co-worker brushing up against you-"

Drawing little circles on her paper mindlessly, Jenny let her mind drift to Gibbs brushing up against her, their bodies moving together as if they had always belonged. She could feel his hands running all over her body, making her shiver with desire. How she had wished he hadn't been at her house because they had a case in the middle of the night, but that he finally wanted to be with her. She knew that she could 'rock his world' better than Diane or his first ex-wife, Lauren, ever had.

Suddenly she looked up and saw that everyone else had left the room. Gibbs was standing in the doorway, waiting on her to get up from her seat. Pulling the conference room door shut, he locked it quietly. "Shepard, you know you're always supposed to have your phone on, it's Rule 3. I shouldn't have to go chase my team down at their houses, because they can't be bothered to turn their phones back on after they leave the gym."

"Well, I would apologize Jethro, but you'd just give me that John Wayne stare and tell me not to apologize. So I'm not quite sure what you're expecting me to say here," she said, quickly putting her defenses up. He may be her superior, but she wasn't going to let him talk to her like she was some child.

"I know you want me, Jenny," he said, walking toward her slowly, her pulse racing. She could feel her heart beating so fast that she was sure he could hear it as well.

"What are you talking about, Agent Gibbs?" she asked, backing up into the row of desks.

"This," he said quietly, before pulling her to him and-

"Agent Shepard," Director Morrow's voice shook her out of her not so platonic thoughts. "Agent Gibbs needs you down in interrogation. Petty Officer Davidson's wife is here. He thinks you can crack her."

"Okay Director," she said, gathering up her things and walking out of the conference room quickly. She needed to go splash some cold water on her face before she went into interrogation.

****NCIS****

"Daddy," Kelly's voice called out, as she walked into the house after school that day. She'd seen his truck in the driveway and knew he was home-it was just a matter of where.

"Hey sweetie," he said, walking down the stairs, looking like he'd just gotten out of the shower. "How was school today?"

"It was okay. Still trying to get used to my classes-the quickest way to get there from my locker every other period."

"Do you have homework tonight?" he questioned, as they walked into the kitchen, looking for something to start for dinner.

"Just some Social Studies, but it's only a couple more questions on a worksheet. The bus got here quicker today than I thought; I didn't get to finish before I had to get off the bus."

"All right," he said, kissing the top of her head as she sat at the kitchen table to finish the couple of problems.

"Can I have a slumber party with my friends for my birthday?" she asked, looking up at him briefly. "I mean, we can still do our thing we always do; my party can be that weekend or something."

"I don't know, Kel," he said, looking a little leery of having a bunch of teenage girls in his house.

"Please," she begged, turning on her puppy dog eyes. "How many times will I ever get to turn thirteen?"

"Kelly, don't use that look on me."

"Come on Daddy, Jenny will help you supervise us," she said, hoping that Maddie would be able to convince her.

"How do you know?" he chuckled, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Because it's for me, and she loves me."

"All right, you can have a slumber party," he said, causing her to squeal and jump up to hug him.

"I got to call Maddie, so we can work on who to invite and what all we need."

"You can invite eight of your friends, not counting Maddie. I don't want more than ten of you here," he said, returning her hug. "Now, what do you want for your birthday present?"

"You mean the slumber party isn't it?"

"Well, it can be," he started, smirking at her playfully. "I mean, you did ask how many times will you turn thirteen."

"I want tickets to see Backstreet Boys in November; remember?" she answered, her eyes lighting up. Grabbing her homework and things, she ran upstairs to her room, hoping that her birthday plans would go off without a hitch.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

****NCIS****

It was already late October-time seemed to fly by for Kelly, Gibbs and his team. Diane had been served with her divorce papers; she was of course dragging her feet through the whole thing. After dropping Kelly off at school, Gibbs showed up at work and found a surprise when he walked into the squad room.

"Shepard! Burley! What the hell is going on here?" Gibbs asked angrily. The fiery redhead had Stan locked in some sort of submission hold with his arm pinned and twisted painfully behind his back, her knee pressed between his shoulder blades.

"Well, boss, it seems ol' Stan here has finally gotten what he wanted," Decker said, as he and Pacci watched the situation in complete and total amusement. "Shepard has her hands all over him. Of course she's trying to break his arm off, but still-"

"Jenny, what's going on?" Gibbs asked, fighting to not roll his eyes.

"Stan decided to play himself a game of grab ass," she replied, wrenching his arm up a little tighter-before smirking deviously. "So now I'm playing a game of breaking his arm."

"Shepard, let him go," he grumbled, glaring daggers into Stan's back. "Burley, did you not learn ANYTHING at that sexual harassment class?"

"It was a complete misunderstanding, boss," Stan started, as the female agent finally let him go. "I didn't realize Jenny stopped right in front of me. I was looking at this new agent here apparently, and I ran into her back and-"

"Just stop Burley," he said, looking more than a little irritated at him. "Stay away from Shepard, or you will be finding yourself another job."

"You know, Gibbs, you sounded like you almost cared about me," Jenny teased. She went over and leaned against his desk before whispering sultrily, "You wishing it was you I was straddling like that?"

"Heh," he chuckled lightly, shaking his head.

"What's so funny, boss?" Will asked, looking over from where he was still laughing with Pacci about Stan's predicament.

"Mind your own business Decker," he replied, as Jenny walked back to her desk with a smirk on her face.

****NCIS****

The next night, Kelly was sitting in the living room watching TV with Gibbs, when she looked up at him. "Daddy, do you think Jenny's at home now?"

"I don't know, why?"

"I need to talk to her about some things," she replied, biting her lip nervously.

"Why don't you talk to me?" he questioned, turning to look at her.

"Cause you're Dad. It's too weird to talk to you about this," she said, fidgeting with the sleeve of her hoodie.

"Kel, you can't get too attached to Jenny like this," he said, worried what would happen if the female agent ever left NCIS.

"Jenny's already told me that if she ever left your team, or NCIS, that we could still be friends and that I could talk to her about whatever."

"All right, give her a call."

"Can I take the phone up to my room?" she asked, as he usually wanted to monitor her phone calls-especially after the stuff Diane would say. He didn't know what it had done to her psyche.

"You can stay down here," he chuckled lightly. "I'm going to go work on the boat."

"Thanks Daddy."

After Kelly made sure Gibbs was secure in the basement, so to speak, she called over at Jenny's-hoping the redhead answered.

"Hola," Jenny's housekeeper, Noemi, answered as Kelly sat back in the recliner.

"Hi Noemi, it's Kelly. Is Jenny home?" she asked, as she started twirling her hair around her finger absently.

"Si Senora, I will get her."

"Thanks," she mumbled, a nervous feeling settling in the pit of her stomach.

"Kelly sweetie, what's up?" Jenny asked, sitting down in front of the fire she had going and drinking her cup of tea Noemi had fixed for her.

"I need to ask you a question," she said, and Jenny could hear the nervousness in her young voice.

"Sure honey, what is it?" she questioned, worried that something was wrong.

"Well, there's this thing at my school in a couple weeks called a turn around dance. It's where the girls ask the boys. Anyway, I don't know how to ask this boy if he wants to go with me," she started quietly, still worried Gibbs would be able to hear her-she was convinced he had bionic hearing, even though he couldn't see that well without his glasses. "I don't want to sound stupid asking him."

"Well, you want to sound confident when you are talking to him," Jenny said, knowing the nerves that Kelly was feeling. She had felt the same way herself when she was twelve and liked Mitchell Anderson, the boy who lived across the street from her.

"How do I do that?"

"You want to look him in the eye when you ask," she said. "Don't fiddle with your shirt sleeve or your backpack while you're talking to him."

"I get all nervous around him, it's weird."

"Well honey, it's because you like him-it's the butterflies in your stomach."

"Feels more like bats," Kelly muttered, laying her head back against the chair. "Can you take me shopping for a dress? Actually, could you take me to the dance? I'm sure Dad would kill Matt for even talking to me."

"Kelly, I can take you shopping, but you should trust your dad," she started, before continuing when she heard Kelly start to interrupt. "You're his little girl, no matter if you're twelve or forty. That is something that will not ever change. I'm sure he can be overprotective but rational at the same time. This dance, this boy Matt, is just one of many times you'll need to be upfront with your dad. He's not going to kill Matt for talking to you. I can't promise that he won't threaten him if he hurts you, but it's just a dance. It's a right of passage. He was a teenager once; I'm sure he went to dances."

"Grandpa Jack said he didn't do much; he was a sulky teenager-then he met my mom."

"Did your mom get him to be pleasant?"

"Yeah, she could make anyone be happy," she replied softly, her eyes tearing up as she thought about Shannon. "Dad says I get that from her. He always tells me that I'm just like her- thankfully the only thing I got from him were my hair and eyes."

"Well, it sounds like your dad was really lucky then."

"Yeah, he was."

"Go talk to him, Kelly. I'll see you on Saturday; we'll go find you a dress."

"Thanks Jenny."

****NCIS****

Heading into the kitchen and over to the basement door, Kelly walked down hesitantly. "Daddy, can I talk to you?"

"Sure, come on-you can help with the boat."

"Okay," she replied, walking over to him and taking the sander he held out to her. "Jenny said I need to tell you this, even though it's really uncomfortable."

"All right, you have my attention," he said, sitting down on a sawhorse.

"Well, in two weeks there's a turnaround dance at school," she started, letting out a shaky breath. "It's where the girls ask the boys-"

"We had those kind of dances when I was in school, Kel," he interrupted, smiling wistfully.

"Anyway, there's this boy I want to ask. So I called Jenny and asked her advice and she said she'd take me to get a dress this weekend."

"Okay."

"That's it?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow at him. "You're not going to go all lunatic about it?"

"Kelly, come here," he said, tugging her hand and pulling her to sit on his knee. "Try as I might, I can not stop you from growing up. If I could, I'd have kept you a little girl forever. I know it may not be ideal, but you can talk to me about this stuff. I don't mind you talking to Jenny and neither does she, but don't feel like you always have to go to her for advice."

"Thanks Daddy," she said, hugging him tightly and kissing his cheek.

****NCIS****

The next day, Kelly walked into the house, tears streaming down her face, as she threw her bag angrily down on the floor. Hearing the door slam, Gibbs walked in from the kitchen. "Kelly, what's the matter?" he asked, taking in his daughter's appearance.

"Stupid Kristen Stevenson," she mumbled, looking up at him. "She knew I wanted to ask Matt to the dance, but she went and asked him last night."

"Ah Kel sweetie, I'm sorry," he said, pulling her into a hug. "Do you want me to go beat him up for you?"

"Like I haven't been humiliated enough?" she asked, grumbling softly. "Kristen saw me talking to him in the hallway today; she embarrassed me in front of everyone. Saying that she asked him to the dance first- that he would have said no to me anyway."

"Well Kel, then he's not the right boy for you," he said gently, wiping her tears away with his thumbs. "Is there another boy you could ask?"

"Just forget it, I don't want to go anymore," she sighed, as she turned and walked upstairs, her bedroom door slamming quietly.

"I really wish you were here, Shan," he sighed, as he walked into the kitchen to finish fixing dinner.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Thanks to Left my heart in Paris for giving me the idea of Jenny's birthday gift for Kelly in this chapter. Also, this story is most likely only going to be updated once a week, which would be on Fridays.

****NCIS****

"Kells, we have a problem," Maddie said, walking into her friend's room the day before her slumber party.

"What?" she mumbled, looking up from her English homework she was doing.

"I still can't get a hold of Jenny," she said, going and flopping down on her bed. "I don't think her housekeeper is giving her my messages."

Rolling her eyes, she let out a faint sigh. "Fine, I'll call her."

"What's the matter with you?"

"I don't think Dad and Jenny will ever get together," she said, turning around in her desk chair to look at her. "Dad's been complaining about her the last week, something about she's not focusing at work."

Thinking over what Kelly had just said, Maddie was formulating speculations in her mind as to why Gibbs wasn't happy with Jenny. "Maybe it's a pre-lovers' quarrel."

Getting up from her desk, Kelly walked over to the door and looked back at Maddie. "Get serious, Madds."

Following Kelly downstairs, she whispered, "I am. Maybe Gibbs' grumpy guss personality is really his weird way of flirting with women."

"I need to call Jenny," she replied, rolling her eyes lightly. "Keep a watch out for my dad. He thinks that Jenny's already agreed to coming over here tomorrow night."

Sitting down on the couch, Kelly dialed Jenny's number and waited for an answer. "Jenny," Kelly said, once the redhead finally picked up.

"Hey sweetie, is everything okay?" she asked, as she hadn't been expecting to hear from her.

"Yeah, I was hoping you could do me a really, really big favor," she answered, needing to hurry and ask her before Gibbs came upstairs.

"I can try, what is it?"

"Would you be willing to help Dad chaperone my slumber party tomorrow night?" she asked, before continuing in a hurry. "I kinda told him that I could get you to help him, and Maddie's been trying to get a hold of you-you're really hard to get a hold of lately. Can you pleeeease do this Jenny? Don't tell Dad that I just asked you today; he'll get mad."

"Can he handle you and your friends for a couple hours by himself?" she asked, chuckling lightly. "I have a date tomorrow afternoon."

"You have a date?" she asked, wrinkling her nose before asking in a panicked tone. "With who?"

"I told Abby I would go with her tomorrow while she gets her new tattoo."

Letting out a small sigh of relief, Kelly gave Maddie a thumbs-up sign. "Great, so we'll see you tomorrow night then, around 6:30?"

"I will be there."

Saying her goodbyes, Kelly hung up the phone and flopped back dramatically against the couch. "I was about to freak out when she said she has a date tomorrow. Luckily it's just to go with Abby to get a new tattoo."

"Come on, let's go see if your dad will take us to the mall. I still need to get your gift."

"Wouldn't it be better to go without me?"

"Probably, but I won't let you watch me pay for it," she replied with a laugh as they walked toward the basement. "Between soccer and school, I haven't had time for much else this month."

"Whatever you say, Madds."

****NCIS****

By the time all three got back from the mall, it was past dinnertime. "Do you girls want to order a pizza?" he asked, as they were going to grill hamburgers and hot dogs for Kelly's party the next day.

"Yeah, extra pepperoni," Maddie said, as it was both girls favorite.

"Oh, Jenny said she'd be a couple hours late tomorrow," Kelly said, acting as if she'd forgotten to mention earlier. "She's going with Abby to get a new tattoo, so she'll be here around 6:30."

"That's fine."

"Gibbs, do you got any wrapping paper?" Maddie asked, once he got done ordering their pizza. "I need to wrap Miss Nosy's gift."

"There's some extra upstairs in my room," he replied, looking over at her. "Kelly go downstairs and wait. Maddie, I'll be right back."

"Hehe," Maddie chuckled, as Kelly looked at them both, exasperated. "Don't look at me like that, I need to wrap your present."

"Hmph," she muttered before walking downstairs to the basement and waiting.

****NCIS****

The next day, Kelly and Maddie were downstairs in the living room trying to move the furniture out of the way so there would be enough room for everyone and their things. "You did un-invite Kristen to the slumber party, didn't you?" Maddie asked, as they were currently pushing the couch back against the window.

"Um, yeah," Kelly replied, looking over at her best friend weirdly. "Why would you think I hadn't?"

"Just wanted to make sure, that's all."

"You're weird."

"But I'm still your best friend, and you still love me," she replied cheekily, making both girls laugh.

"What's so funny in here?" Gibbs asked, walking into the living room after being out gathering some firewood.

"Maddie's a dork."

"Never mind," he said, shaking his head in slight confusion.

"She just didn't understand why I asked her if she un-invited Kristen to the party tonight," Maddie told him, shrugging her shoulders in a nonchalant way. "I wouldn't want her at my party if she did to me what she did to Kelly."

"She's not coming to the party, so let it go Maddie."

"Fine."

****NCIS****

A few hours later, the party was underway; the girls were in the living room eating different kinds of snacks-when Jenny finally showed up.

"Happy Birthday again Kelly," Jenny said, walking into the house and hugging her. "Sorry I'm late; Abby's tattoo went into a lot of detail."

"What'd she get?" Maddie asked, having met the bubbly scientist and thought she was pretty cool.

"She got half a spider-web tattooed on the side of her neck."

"Okay, that's a little weird," Kelly said, wrinkling her nose a bit.

"That's Abby for you."

"True," she replied, shrugging lightly. "Dad's in the basement if you want to go down there."

"I will," she said, laying her coat over the arm of the banister, and pulling a long envelope out of her purse. "Before I forget though; here's your birthday present."

"What is it?" Maddie asked, looking at Kelly impatiently.

Opening the envelope, Kelly saw that it was a gift certificate to the salon that Jenny goes to, for an all day pampering. "Wow Jenny, this is great thank you!" she said, hugging her tightly.

"You can bring Maddie with us if you want to," she whispered, not wanting all Kelly's friends to hear it and get jealous. "It's not a set day, so just whenever I have a weekend off and we can go. Abby will most likely go as well-she was with me when I bought the certificate, hope you don't mind."

"No, it's fine."

"Alright, do you girls need anything before I go downstairs?"

"Nope, we're good."

Walking down the stairs, Jenny wasn't all that surprised to see Gibbs working on his boat. "Do you ever build anything else?" she teased as she sat down on a sawhorse and watched him work.

"There are always things to improve on with each new project," he said, not really glancing at her. He was meticulously painting Kelly's name on the boat. "Different ways to make it; I've not really thought about making anything else."

"Gotcha," she said, as she brazenly took a drink of his bourbon. "Blah, how can you drink this stuff?"

"Guess you need to learn to drink with the big boys, Shepard."

"Trust me, Jethro. I can handle my liquor," she said, as she was still feeling the burn of the bourbon going down her throat. "However, that is not anything good."

"Are they okay upstairs?"

"Yeah, they all seem like pretty easy-going girls," she answered, pushing up the sleeves on her sweater. "How come you needed me to help you watch them, or whatever this is?"

"There are ten of them," he answered, sparing a glance at her.

"Big bad Leroy Jethro Gibbs is afraid of a bunch of teenage girls," Jenny laughed, picking up an extra sander from the table. "I think I just found your kryptonite."

"I am not afraid of them; but there is such a thing as strength in numbers. I don't want them to think they have the upper-hand."

"Why did you say she could have this many girls over?" she asked playfully.

"Stop enjoying this so much, Jen"

"Fine, I'll be nice," she said, walking over to the boat. Raising the sander up, she started moving it back and forth slowly, not sure whether she was doing it right.

"You need to go with the grain," Gibbs whispered, his hot breath tickling her neck, causing her to jump back slightly.

"Oh," she replied breathily, as he placed his hands on top of hers and started moving the sander back and forth. Both fought feelings they felt bubbling inside of them.

Upstairs, Maddie was getting some more to drink when she decided to peek into the basement and see what the two chaperones were doing. Holding back an excited squeal, she ran quickly back into the living room and pulled on Kelly's arm. "You have GOT to come see this," she said, dragging her into the kitchen and letting her see her dad and Jenny in the basement.

"It's actually working," Kelly whispered, as she and Maddie backed away from the door. "I started to think maybe it wouldn't."

"Come on, let's go back in and watch movies before Gunny comes up and catches us."

"I don't know why you still call my dad Gunny."

"Well, he was a Gunny when I met him; and he said not to call him Mister Gibbs, so I decided on Gunny," she replied, as they grabbed a couple bags of candy corn off the counter and walked into the living room. "I have a lot of endearing names for your dad: Grumpy Guss, Gunny, Gibbs, G-Man-"

"Okay, I get it," she laughed as they dropped the candy on the floor and everyone got comfortable. "You're stranger than I ever thought."

A little while later, Gibbs and Jenny were still downstairs working on the boat—when she pulled away; hissing slightly. "Shit," she cussed softly, putting her index finger in her mouth, hoping to pull the splinter out with her teeth. "Shouldn't you have the splinters already gone now?"

"Let me look at it," he said, walking over in front of her and taking her finger in his hand. Pushing up on the splinter, he managed to grab a hold of it before pulling it out quickly. "There it's out."

"Thanks," she replied, her breath catching in her throat, as he was standing in such a close proximity to her—and they were both facing each other. 'Is he going to kiss me?' She wondered, as she unconsciously or consciously licked her lips. Closing her eyes when she saw him starting to lean into her more; she waited to feel his lips claiming hers.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. They are owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: A BIG thank you to my beta JibbsGal1 for helping me out tremendously through this chapter. She has been a lifesaver on this for me, and for listening to me change ideas and stuff numerous times. Also, you guys are getting this chapter a day early, as I am leaving for vacation tomorrow.

A/N 2: I had this plot line worked out way before the tragedy that took place in Aurora, Colorado at the Dark Knight premiere. I would just like to say that my thoughts and prayers are with them and will continue to be with them. This is in no way meant to disrespect the memories of those lives lost, or those that will continue to live with the haunting memories of that night.

****NCIS****

Jenny had been working diligently on a cold case file for the past hour and half. She kept letting her mind wander to the almost kiss in Gibbs' basement the weekend before. Just as his lips were about to crash down on hers—there was the sound of glass crashing to the floor; breaking up any sort of moment between them. Speaking of; Gibbs was in a worse mood than normal-leaving her no doubt that it had to do with the delay in his divorce from Diane. He hadn't mentioned anything to her about their almost breaking of 'Rule #12' since that night. They had gone upstairs and found that Maddie had dropped her glass; when Kelly and their friends decided to scare her with a fake spider on her pillow. She was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't bothered looking up when Director Morrow walked into the squad room, commanding everyone in sight's attention.

"There has been a shooting at Quantico High School," he announced, making everyone on Team Gibbs look up in slight horror-none more so than the man himself, as he thought about his daughter being there. The middle and high school were combined, since pretty much all the grades were small in number. "There have been reports of mass casualties and two assailants. We need all hands on deck for this one."

"Jethro-" Jenny started, but at the look he gave her quickly silenced her question.

"Gear up!" Gibbs voice bellowed, as they grabbed backpacks and headed toward the elevator. Everyone wanted to get to the school and try to end the massacre before it got any worse.

****NCIS****

Kelly had been walking to her fourth class that morning with Maddie, complaining to her best friend about not being able to go to the Backstreet Boys concert that weekend- when they heard gunshots ringing out.

****NCIS****

Looking around at the mass of students and staff rushing out of Quantico Middle/High School, Jenny tried to see if she could find any sign of Kelly, or Maddie even, knowing both girls were always together. Not finding any sign of them, she walked over to where Decker and Burley were. She strapped her bulletproof vest around her and slid the earwig in her ear.

"Do you guys have a bad feeling about Gibbs being here?" Stan asked, looking at his two teammates questioningly.

"You mean do I have a bad feeling about what will happen if Gibbs comes across Kelly laying in the hall dead or injured?" Jenny asked, knowing it was a very real possibility. "Yeah, I do."

Running to catch up with Gibbs, the team followed him into the building. SWAT and NCIS were in position to enter and do what was needed to ensure the safety of the remaining staff and students. They had been told that the shooters were sequestered to the east wing of the school, as the other sections had been locked down once the shooting started. Jenny could see Gibbs trying to go through Kelly's schedule in his mind, wondering if by some chance she had been in a different wing of the school-and managed to get out safely.

Walking through the hallways, they had their eyes peeled looking for the suspects. They had passed by several bodies, some looked as young as Kelly, making Gibbs' gut churn. He hadn't had such a feeling of despair since Shannon died; now he was faced with the possibility of losing the last shining part of his life. It was something he almost couldn't face as he stepped over the body of a young girl he knew was in Kelly's grade.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs did not cry. Hell, he hardly showed any emotion at all. So when Jenny saw him pinching his eyes shut, she couldn't help but be a little shocked. She knew that he was undoubtedly worried about his little girl. Anyone who saw the two of them together, knew that Kelly was his life. She remembered a conversation she had with Kelly a couple weeks ago, when she had said that her dad didn't cry at her mom's funeral. Kelly had said that her grandmother told her once that it was stubborn Marine pride, but the young girl had her own ideas. He had always tried to be strong for Kelly, letting her cry on him those first few weeks after Shannon's tragic death. He never wanted to let his little girl see him as weak; she was almost positive that Jethro would cry in his room, when he thought she was sleeping.

Jenny and Decker were walking down a separate hallway which would put them meeting up with the rest of their team at the end-since the wings were shaped like clovers. Looking to her right, she saw a young girl with light brown hair, laying face down on the ground. Immediately her heart leapt to her throat as she grabbed Decker's arm to get his attention.

"Shit Shepard," he cursed, both of them having an unbelievable feeling of dread. "Look and see if it's her."

Going over to her slowly, Jenny pushed the girl's hair back and almost let out a sigh of relief when she saw that it wasn't Kelly. Shaking her head lightly, she forced herself to choke back the urge to throw up-as she had seen what had to be the worst part of her job.

"Thank God," Will mumbled, as Jenny went back on alert, keeping her eyes peeled for any signs of the gunmen or Kelly.

Meeting up with Gibbs and Burley, they continued down the straight hallway, looking in open classrooms. Jenny barely caught the glimpse of a raised gun from across the hallway pointed at them. "Shooter!" she yelled, as multiple shots rang out. Unsure of who had been hit, she checked herself over before looking up and seeing one of the SWAT team members standing over two dead bodies.

After watching Ducky load the shooters into body bags, Gibbs and his team discovered that they were two seniors who had been suspended a couple days prior for harassing a couple of cheerleaders. They came back seeking revenge on them and anyone else they came across.

****NCIS****

"Excuse me, where are parents being directed to pick up their children?" Jenny asked, as she and Pacci were talking to one of the medics.

"Quantico library and up at the base," he replied, looking at her questioningly. "What's your child's name?"

"Oh, she's not my daughter. She belongs to my boss," Jenny clarified, looking over at where Gibbs was trying desperately to get Kelly on the phone, thinking she may have gone home once she got out of the school.

****NCIS****

Decker had been across the street talking with the MP's still on the scene, when he finally was able to learn that one of the victims had been Kelly. Dreading going back and telling his boss that his little girl had been shot, he decided to pull Pacci and Jenny aside and tell them, hoping that one of them would volunteer to tell Gibbs the news.

Once Will had filled them in, Jenny sighed deeply, trying to push back the panic she felt at her partner's words. She had grown fond of Kelly since she had met her back in the spring. Knowing that telling Gibbs wouldn't be easy, she also knew it may come a little better from her-than Will or Chris.

"Jethro," she started softly, walking up to him. "You need to get to Bethesda now."

"Kelly," he said, his heart filling with dread.

"She's been shot," she whispered, grabbing his hand absently.

"Decker! Burley! Get back to the yard and start the background checks on these two. Get the evidence to Abby, and find me some damn answers!" he yelled, pulling Jenny by the hand and heading to the Stratus, leaving the two remaining agents wondering what answers Gibbs was looking for, short of the teenagers being insane.

****NCIS****

"Kelly Gibbs. Where is she?" Gibbs asked, storming into the hospital, Jenny hot on his heels.

"You are?" The nurse behind the desk asked, looking at him questioningly.

"Her father," he growled, showing her his badge and ID.

"I will let her doctor know you are out here."

"Jethro, come on and sit down," Jenny said, pulling him over toward a set of chairs.

"I can't lose her, Jen."

"Do not think like that Leroy Jethro Gibbs," she said sternly, refusing to let him think that his daughter would not make it. "I have seen that little girl survive you being married to the wicked witch of the West. There is no way she's going to leave you now."

"We got into an argument this morning before she left for school," he mumbled, not really hearing what she had said to him. "She wanted me to take her to the Backwoods Boys concert, and I told her that we had the weekend shift and she got upset with me. Maddie's mom was going to take them; but they were going out of town. Maddie was going to stay with us to go to the concert. She mumbled something about NCIS being just like when I was in the Marines and would get deployed. I swore to myself after Shannon died, that I wouldn't let Kelly feel like that again. I hadn't been there to protect her when the accident happened, and I wasn't there to protect her today."

"Jethro, Kelly knows you love her," Jenny started, making him look her in the eye. "She just misses you. Take some vacation time and enjoy your daughter. Take her to see BackSTREET Boys, not Backwoods. We can handle things for a week."

"I can't lose her Jen," he whispered again, fixing his gaze straight in front of him-as he got up and started pacing the floor. "I about lost it when Shannon died, I came so close to losing Kelly then too. The Chaplin had it wrong when he told me in Kuwait. The communications were breaking down; so all they understood was that there was an accident and Shannon was dead. They thought they said Kelly was too-I tried to get myself blown up cause I couldn't live without them. Spent nineteen days in a coma cause of it. I can't live without my little girl."

"Call it women's intuition or whatever Jethro, but I know Kelly's going to be fine," she insisted, grabbing his hand in hers again-if for anything, to stop the pacing he was doing, which was driving her a little batty. "I'm sure they would have said something when you got here if she hadn't survived. She's got so much of you in her; she doesn't know how to give up. You've got to go through her becoming a teenager and dating, possibly scaring off any boy with that glare of yours."

Before he could reply, Kelly's doctor walked into the room. "Gibbs?"

"That's me," he replied, as he and Jenny both stood up, anxious to hear how Kelly was doing.

"I'm Dr. Montgomery. I'm the doctor on your daughter's case. Kelly was shot in her left shoulder, just below her clavicle bone. She has some minor tissue damage, but other than that I don't see why she won't make a full recovery," the doctor explained, before going over some other at-home care things. "With her age, we would like to keep her overnight for observation."

"Yeah, that's fine. I don't want to cause any setbacks," Gibbs replied, shaking his hand. "When can I see her?"

"She's being moved into her room right now. I'll have a nurse come get you when she's in."

"Jethro, I'm going to go call Abby and let her know how Kelly is," Jenny said, looking up at him. "I know she'll handle telling everyone else that Kelly is okay."

Caught up in the moment and overwhelmed with relief, Gibbs grabbed her to him and kissed her. Tensing up momentarily, Jenny wasn't sure how to respond to the kiss. She decided to listen to her heart and kiss him back when he pulled away. He stared at her with an unreadable look on his face. Suddenly the nurse come up to him to say that he could go back and see Kelly, leaving Jenny alone in the waiting room wondering what in the hell had just happened.

****NCIS****

Gibbs walked into Kelly's room quietly, not wanting to startle her. He pulled a chair up beside her bed, seeing a hint of the bandage covering her wound, her arm resting in a sling. Thankfully she didn't look to be in any pain while she slept. He sat down and took her good hand in his, not taking his eyes away from her face. Silently making a promise that he wasn't going to ever take his daughter for granted again. He knew he had started to the last couple years-something he had sworn he wouldn't do when the accident happened years ago. He knew that the shooting wasn't his fault; there wasn't anything he could have done to stop it. He just felt like a failure as her father, her protector-again. He'd failed to keep her safe when he was in Kuwait. He felt he redeemed himself a little bit by going down to Mexico himself and putting a bullet through Pedro Hernandez's head but that still didn't bring Shannon back. It didn't heal the loss of losing her mother at such a young age. He thought about the torturous hell he'd put Kelly through by marrying Diane. It was obvious Diane didn't like her, but he had selfishly figured that Diane would just warm up to her-learn to like her, but it never happened. Looking back up at Kelly's face, Gibbs silently prayed that she would have a relatively easy recovery; he couldn't stand the thought of his daughter in pain. He'd rather take it for himself, than to watch her go through it. Pushing her hair back off her face, he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss to her forehead, hoping she felt it and knew he was there. The nurse had told him on his way in that they had medicated her heavily, so she wouldn't be in pain—and that she would be sleeping for the rest of the night most likely. Then he had to go and kiss his probie in the waiting room. Sure, Jenny seemed to meet his criteria-a leggy redhead, but she obviously wasn't feeling the same things he was. Settling back in his seat, he continued watching Kelly sleeping, all the while thinking back on the kiss with Jenny.

After Gibbs had left Jenny in the waiting room, she placed her fingers to her kiss-swollen lips-the only real indication that Gibbs had indeed been kissing her. She couldn't believe that happened, she couldn't believe she had started to respond, or the stinging feel of rejection when he pulled back abruptly. The look in his eyes seemed to show that the kiss was a mistake on his part. He had obviously been relieved that Kelly was going to pull through, so that was why he had kissed her. She wasn't sure why she was going to respond to the kiss-okay she did, if for nothing else it was something she had thought about before, wondering what it would be like. "Why'd I let myself do that?" She berated herself lightly, knowing that mixing business with pleasure was never a good idea-especially if your boss is one Leroy Jethro Gibbs. She couldn't get the kiss out of her mind, so much so that she barely heard her phone ringing. She grabbed it, answering before it went to voicemail. Filling Abby in on Kelly's condition, she made sure to tell her to inform Ducky and the rest of Gibbs' team. She then hung up and walked outside. 'Leave it to Jethro to kiss me in a waiting room full of people, then walk away like nothing happened,' she thought to herself. Closing her eyes tightly, she tried pushing the images of the kiss out of her mind, but they were quickly replaced with images of her writhing underneath his body as he took her to new heights. Grabbing the keys to the car out of her pocket, she pushed herself away from the wall and headed toward the parking lot. She knew Gibbs would call her or someone else in the morning to pick him and Kelly up, and she really wanted to go home and have half a bottle of bourbon if she was lucky. She realized she wouldn't be getting much sleep that night, if every time she closed her eyes she saw his cobalt eyes overtop her, driving her crazy. "Damn you, Jethro," she grumbled lightly, starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot.

****NCIS****

The next morning, Kelly was being released from the hospital. Gibbs called Jenny and asked her to come pick them up, so he could get his truck from the Navy Yard. He got Kelly signed out and was told how to take care of her wound. He had just started wheeling her out of the room when Jenny arrived.

"Jenny!" Kelly exclaimed, seeing her walking toward them.

"Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?"

"My shoulder doesn't hurt right now. The doctors gave me lots of medicine before they let me go home, plus some to have when I get home and this wears off."

"That's good. Do you feel like coming into NCIS when we get there? You've got quite a few people who want to see you."

"Can I, Daddy?"

"Yeah sure honey, if you feel like it," Gibbs replied, as Jenny refused to meet his gaze at all, thus making him believe even more that she didn't want the kiss and things were now awkward between then.

"Okay, but I don't want to stay long."

"That's fine, sweetie. Basically Abby and Ducky didn't take my word for it when I said you were okay. They want to see for themselves, but they can't get away from work."

"Do you know if Maddie's okay, Daddy?" Kelly asked, turning her head to look up at Gibbs questioningly.

"I didn't know Maddie was shot," he replied, looking down at her face. "I'll call her dad later when we get home, see how she's doing."

"Okay."

****NCIS****

Once they'd gotten to NCIS, Gibbs helped Kelly into the building since she was still pretty medicated and hadn't been walking since the day before. Leaning against his side, she kept poking at the Marine logo on his hoodie, trying not to think about what had happened the day before.

"Jenny, can you call Abby and Ducky up to the squad room?" Kelly asked softly, looking up at the agent she considered a friend. "I don't feel like walking all over the place."

"Not a problem," she replied, knowing that Ducky had quite a few bodies down in autopsy and Kelly had no business seeing them-some of them were her classmates.

"Thanks," she mumbled, as the elevator reached the squad room floor finally.

Walking out of the elevator, the first person Kelly saw was Chris Pacci. Of course once he caught sight of her, he got up and pulled her into a gentle hug.

"How are you, kiddo?" he questioned, releasing her from the hug.

"I'm okay, my shoulder's a little sore."

Before he could say anything, Kelly heard someone screaming her name, and a flurry of pigtails came flying around the corner by Gibbs' desk.

"Kelly, I'm so glad you're okay," Abby said, coming to an abrupt halt before she could hug her, not wanting to cause her anymore pain.

"Thanks Abby," she replied softly, sending her a small smile.

After spending about forty-five minutes talking with Gibbs' team, Ducky and the Director-telling them what she'd seen happen, Gibbs helped her down to the truck and took her home.

"Can we get pizza for lunch today?" Kelly asked, as she figured that was the easiest thing she could eat one-handed.

"Sure," he replied, unable to say no to her for anything now. "You want double pepperoni?"

"Yeah and cinnastix."

"Okay, do you want to go get a shower while we're waiting for it to get here?"

"Yeah," she replied again, as she walked up the stairs carefully. Her medicine was starting to wear off.

After almost a half hour, Gibbs hadn't heard the shower switch off and he was a little concerned. Going upstairs, he walked past Kelly's room and didn't see her in there. Knocking lightly on the bathroom door, he heard her muffled "come in."

"Kelly, what's wrong?" he asked, looking at her worriedly. She stared blankly down at the floor as she sat on the closed toilet lid.

"I can't take a shower," she said, looking up at him. "I can't move my arm to do anything."

"Oh," he mumbled lightly, knowing this would be an awkward situation and wishing again that Shannon was there so she could help their daughter when he couldn't.

"Can you call Jenny and see if she'll come help me?"

Nodding his head lightly, he leaned over to turn off the shower and helped Kelly get up before leading her downstairs. He knew that Jenny would do whatever she could to help Kelly, but he just wasn't sure how he would be around her. They barely said two words to each other on the way to the Navy Yard that morning, much less say anything about the kiss. Grabbing his cell phone, he called Jenny's, hoping he didn't screw it up by kissing her the night before.

"Shepard," came Jenny's silky alto voice, making him curse himself mentally for thinking things that weren't very professional.

"Jen, can you come over and help Kelly with a shower?" he asked, the pizza and cinnastix arriving then. He got up to get them and pay the driver. "She can't move her arm to do much. I think it's now starting to hit her what happened yesterday."

"Okay, I'll be there in a little bit."

"Thanks Jen," he replied, taking the food into the kitchen and getting Kelly's onto a plate for her.

After telling Kelly that Jenny would be there soon, Gibbs was left wondering just how he would be able to handle being in close proximity to Jenny-without wanting to act on the feelings he was harboring for her.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing. AutopsyGremlin, I would send you PM's to your reviews you have left, but you have it disabled. I am glad you are enjoying this story though. Thanks to all for getting me over 50 reviews already. I love it!

****NCIS****

Jenny was driving over to Gibbs' house slowly, trying to process everything in her mind. 'Does he really understand what he's asking of me?' she thought, trying to focus on the road so she didn't end up crashing her car. 'Can I just ignore the fact he kissed me?' Sighing softly to herself, she thought about the main reason she was going over to his house, and that was to help take care of Kelly. The young girl was Jenny's priority-not trying to figure out why her boss kissed her.

****NCIS****

"Daddy, can you call and find out if Maddie's okay?" Kelly asked, as she finished what she wanted of her pizza.

"Yeah, I will."

"Hmm," she sighed as she laid back against the pillows on the couch, trying to find something good on TV. "When's Jenny going to get here?"

"She should be here soon, sweetie."

"All right," she mumbled, as Gibbs started talking to Maddie's father. As she tried to listen in on the conversation, she heard a car pulling up into the driveway. Recognizing the red convertible, Kelly went to the door. "Hi Jenny."

"Hey, sweetie," Jenny replied, hugging Kelly gently. She ran her fingers through the young girl's hair in a motherly way. "How are you feeling?"

"Daddy thinks I'm in shock a little bit. At least that's what I heard him just say to Mr. Tyler. My shoulder's starting to hurt, but I had to eat first before I could take any medicine."

"Okay, well have you taken it yet?"

"No, I have to wait for Daddy to get off the phone first," she replied with a slight shrug of her good shoulder. "Unless you get it for me."

"All right, is it in the kitchen?" Jenny asked, seeing the concerned look on Gibbs' face and knowing he was talking about Maddie. Jenny decided to steer Kelly into the kitchen, hoping that the news wasn't grim.

"Jenny, did you guys catch the shooters?" Kelly asked softly, looking up at her.

"Yes, we got them."

"Are they dead?"

Slightly shocked, Jenny hesitated before answering. She knew that Kelly would see through any lie. "Yes, they were shot and killed."

"Is it bad to be happy they're dead?" she questioned. Kelly had a lot of mixed up emotions and feelings in her.

Taking a deep breath, Jenny tried to plan out what she would say, but she knew that no matter what she said, she couldn't tell the young girl how she was supposed to feel. "Well, you had something horrible happen to you. The boys that did this, there were probably things wrong with them psychologically that could have maybe prevented this from happening if they'd gotten help for it. I don't think you should hang onto the anger or bitterness forever, otherwise it will eat you up inside."

"I'll try and not be angry anymore," she said softly as Jenny wrapped her in a comforting hug-while being extremely careful of her shoulder.

"Sweetie, I'm not saying you can't still be angry right now; I am saying that you don't want to get to be your dad's age and still be holding onto the anger from this tragedy."

"Okay, thanks Jenny."

"Welcome," she said, kissing the top of her head.

****NCIS****

After helping Kelly shower and wash her hair, Jenny suggested wearing button-down shirts for a while. She figured they would be easier to slip her arm through the sleeves without having to put too much pressure on her shoulders. Going through Kelly's closet, Jenny was shocked to find she didn't have many shirts like that. "Okay, I'll make a quick run to Wal-Mart and get you some tops and a few pairs of pajamas."

"Hey Jenny," Kelly said softly, fiddling with the strap of her sling. "Can you stay the night for a few nights?"

"Um, shouldn't you ask your dad before you ask me?" she questioned, not sure how to respond.

"It'd be a lot easier on us both if he didn't have to call you each time I want to take a shower or get dressed," she replied, looking at her hopefully. "Please Jenny, at least until I get used to moving around with this stupid arm sling."

"All right, fine. I'll stop by my house after Wal-Mart and get my things," she replied, as they walked out of Kelly's room and went back downstairs.

Before Jenny could leave, Gibbs pulled her to the side. After making sure that Kelly was settled in the living room, he whispered, "I just got off the phone with Maddie's father. She's in a coma-shot in the abdomen and thigh. They're not sure if she'll pull through it."

"Oh my God," she whispered back, covering her mouth in horrified shock. "What are you going to tell Kelly?"

"I don't know," he mumbled, running a hand over his tired face. "Just hurry back from wherever it is you're going. I'm going to need you here when I tell her."

"I can wait," she replied. "I was just going to go get her some easier tops to wear while she's in the sling-and go get an overnight bag."

"All right, let's go," he said. They walked into the living room where Kelly was watching a rerun of "Boy Meets World" on TV. "Kells, I need to talk to you for a minute. Can you turn that off?"

She hit the off switch and looked at her father intently. "Did Mr. Tyler tell you how Maddie is?"

"Sweetie, Maddie was wounded severely," he started, knowing how hard this was going to be for Kelly. It was hard for him as well. Maddie had become like a second daughter to him and had been there for Kelly after Shannon died. "She's in a coma right now. They don't know if she will be able to pull through. That's not saying she won't, but with the amount of blood she lost before anyone was able to get you girls out of the school-"

"So can't someone just give her some blood?" she asked over him, not really understanding any of it.

"Kelly, she's had blood transfusions-"

"Oh," she whispered softly, looking down at the floor trying in vain to keep her tears away. But she failed miserably as the tears flowed down her young face. "Can I go to the hospital and see her?"

"I told Mr. Tyler that I'd bring you up in a couple days to visit," he said, before cutting off her protest. "I also asked him to let me know if they thought she was taking a turn for the worse so I can bring you up."

"Okay."

"You all right Kelly?" Jenny asked looking at her gently. She knew that she wasn't but there wasn't a right thing to say in their current situation.

"Yeah, I just want to go lay down," she replied, getting up and walking to her room.

"Poor thing," Jenny mumbled, standing up from the couch.

When she started to put her coat on, Gibbs grabbed her hand lightly, getting her attention. "Jen, I heard you say something earlier to Kelly-about not holding onto her anger cause it would eat her up inside. You sounded like you're talking from experience there."

"It's nothing Jethro. I've just seen what holding onto anger and bitterness can do. I don't want to see that happen to Kelly. She's far too young to hold onto that kind of emotion for the rest of her life," she said, pulling her hair out of the back of her coat. She wasn't going to say anything to Gibbs about her father and what happened to him. She felt it was her own personal burden to carry and not something to share with her current boss. "Do you want me to pick up anything for you at the store?"

"No thanks, I'm good," he replied, knowing there was more to her answer than she was letting on. He figured he could find out more later; Jenny Shepard was a mystery to him in more ways than one.

"All right, be back in about an hour."

****NCIS****

After getting back to Gibbs' house, Jenny was getting settled into the guest room. The kiss from the day before still played in her mind. 'Why can't I stop thinking about it?' she asked herself, climbing into bed and turning off the light. 'Cause you liked it, that's why.' Her heart answered for her. "Damn you, Jethro Gibbs," she grumbled into her pillow as she turned onto her side and attempted to get some sleep.

Gibbs was laying in his bed, thinking over everything that happened the last few days. He was grateful that Kelly was alive and okay; that he didn't have to go through what the Tylers were with Maddie. He also kept thinking about the kiss with Jenny out in the waiting room-after finding out that Kelly was alive and going to be okay. 'Was it really just because you were relieved Kelly was all right?' he questioned himself, knowing that was the excuse he made in his mind after he pulled away from her. He grumbled lightly when his thoughts went toward her sleeping down the hall from him; he wondered momentarily what she was wearing to bed. Before he could get too carried away with his thoughts, an ear-piercing scream came from Kelly's room, making him jump up from the bed quickly.

"Daddy!" Kelly cried. Gibbs and Jenny both rushed into her room to find her sitting up in bed-shaking almost violently from the nightmare she'd had.

"Kelly, it's okay baby," Gibbs said, sitting beside her on the bed and hugging her gently. "It's okay, you're safe now."

"What was the dream about Kelly?" Jenny asked, sitting down at the foot of her bed-trying her best to shake her thoughts clear of seeing Gibbs shirtless-and his muscles rippling as he hugged Kelly to him.

"Maddie died," she mumbled, as she tried to calm down. "It was everything that happened yesterday, except she died."

"Why don't you tell us what happened yesterday," Jenny suggested, knowing she needed to get this out in the open.

Looking at Jenny hesitantly, she bit her lip and nodded. "Maddie and I were walking to our English class. She was trying to come up with ways for us to be able to go to the Backstreet Boys concert Saturday night- since her parents were going out of town, and Daddy has to work. I could hear people screaming and then we heard gunshots. When we turned around to run back down the hallway, that's when the two guys shot us," she said, pausing to take a breath. Gibbs rubbed her back supportively. "I don't really remember what happened after that, until Kyle and David carried me and Maddie out to the medics."

"Why don't you go wash your face, and I'll fix us some warm milk and we can watch late night movies until you want to fall asleep," Jenny suggested, knowing that Kelly would fight going back to sleep. "I bet we can even get your dad to make us popcorn."

"Thanks Jenny," Kelly said, leaning forward and hugging her as best she could.

"You're welcome, sweetie," she replied, not seeing Gibbs staring at her-his gaze stuck on her cleavage. Her tiny tank top left little for his imagination.

"I'll meet you downstairs," Kelly said, getting out of bed and walking out of her room.

"Jethro, do you mind fixing us some popcorn? I need to go grab a sweatshirt. It's too damn cold in your house to wear this and watch a movie comfortably," she teased, as she had worn a pair of NCIS cotton shorts rolled up on her waist and a simple tank top to bed. The reaction Gibbs was trying, yet failing to hide, made Jenny grin with satisfaction. 'Serves you right, you stupid ass, kissing me in the damn hospital and thinking I could just forget about it,' she thought to herself.

"Yeah sure. I'll be down in a few minutes," he mumbled gruffly, as he headed toward his bedroom. He needed to take a very cold shower first. When Jenny had pulled back from the hug, Gibbs had gotten a small peek at her toned stomach. Add to that her endless legs that hugged the cotton shorts she was wearing and he needed to calm down-not get himself excited again. It was going to be a long few days until Kelly would be able to do more for herself or let him help her.

"I didn't mean to wake you up, Jenny," Kelly apologized, as they were sitting down in the living room, getting ready to watch Kelly's favorite movie, "The Princess Bride."

"Hey, that's what I'm here for. You don't have to apologize. You had something very traumatic happen. It is normal to have nightmares, but the important thing is-don't shut people out," she said firmly, trying to convey the seriousness of it. "Talk to your dad or me. If one of us isn't around, you can call Abby."

Before Kelly could reply, Gibbs came into the room with a big bowl of popcorn. 'When did he get down here to fix it?' Jenny wondered briefly to herself, as they all got comfortable on the couch to watch the movie.

****NCIS****

The next morning, Gibbs woke up with the sun. His neck was sore from sleeping on the couch sitting up. He felt a slight weight against his side. Thinking it was Kelly, he wanted to move her before her shoulder caused her to wake up in pain. Looking down, he was surprised to see Jenny snuggled up against him, his hand dangerously close to her perfectly shaped ass. He looked around and wondered what had happened to Kelly, when he saw her curled up in the recliner sleeping. Deciding to move his hand to the back of the couch, he continued letting Jenny rest against him. He knew that she probably hadn't slept much since the shooting happened either. He had seen the haunted look in her eyes after they'd killed the suspects, when she'd told him that Kelly had been shot. A small part of him was grateful that his agent had taken such a liking to his daughter. A bigger part of him was cursing mentally at the irony of the situation. He knew there was no way that they'd ever be able to get away with having a relationship, no matter how attracted to her he was, or how he'd longed to feel her legs around his waist as they-shaking his head clear he knew he needed to stop this train of thought. Otherwise disastrous things could happen, such as Jenny waking up and seeing the aroused state he was quickly getting himself into. Gently laying Jenny down in the spot he'd been sitting in, Gibbs got up and went to the kitchen to make himself a pot of coffee, trying to get himself ready for the day ahead. He needed to take Kelly back to NCIS so she could give her 'official statement' on what happened two days prior. He could only hope that the retelling of the events wouldn't harm her. Sure, she had told them the night before, but it was after a nightmare caused by everything.

Jenny woke, curled up in a ball on Gibbs' couch. She looked around and saw Kelly still sleeping soundly in the chair and smiled softly. Getting up she walked into the kitchen where Gibbs had the coffee brewing. "Morning," she said, taking the cup that he offered her.

"Morning," he replied, looking up at her. "Did you want some breakfast before we go into the office?"

"I'll just fix some toast or something. I'm not all that hungry."

As Gibbs was getting ready to argue with her, the doorbell rang. He wanted to get to it before it woke up Kelly. Looking out the window, he rolled his eyes and debated whether or not he should even answer once he saw his soon to be ex, Diane, waiting on the other side. Taking the bull by the horn, he opened the door but blocked her entry into the foyer.

"Leroy, I heard about the shooting at Kelly's school," she started, looking up at his face. She couldn't tell much from the annoyed look he was giving her, as to whether or not Kelly was alive or dead, so she continued. "I know you think I'm just after her money, but I really am concerned. I know she's your entire world, and I just want to see if she's okay."

"Yes, she's fine," he replied, not giving any other details beside that.

"Jethro, Kelly's awake and she's in pain-," Jenny started, as she walked over to the door and saw Diane standing there. Her concerned look vanishing as quick as it appeared when he had opened the door.

"You bitch!" Diane yelled, trying to reach in and smack Jenny's face. She was quickly thwarted by Gibbs' hand clamping down on her arm.

Gibbs saw Kelly standing just inside the living room, watching the scene unfold. "Diane, get out of here now," he growled lowly, not wanting to upset his daughter. "Jenny is here to help me with Kelly. You are no longer my wife. All I need is the signed papers stating that. So help me God, if you do not leave this house right now, I won't hesitate in having your ass thrown in jail."

"Home wrecker," Diane muttered, as she jerked her arm free of Gibbs' grasp and stormed back to her car.

"Boy, she's a lovely person to see at eight in the morning," Jenny said, turning around to find Kelly. "Come on, sweetie. We'll get you something to eat, so you can take your pain medicine."

"I hate her, Jenny," Kelly said, as she went to sit at the table. "I wish she'd just stay gone and leave us alone now."

"Well, the divorce is almost final, Kel. After that she'll be gone from our lives for good," Gibbs said, walking into the kitchen and kissing the top of his daughter's head.

"Good," she mumbled, as she started eating her cereal so she could take her medicine. "Can we go see Maddie today?"

"We'll see how you feel after we get done at NCIS," he replied, as they really needed to get her statement before her memories of the day became distorted. He hadn't let her watch regular TV because he didn't want her to hear details of the shooting on the news and hearing things about her friends.

"I don't want to go," she said, looking up at him. "Can't you just tell them what I told you?"

"No Kelly, you know I can't do that."

"I don't want to talk about the shooting anymore," she mumbled, pushing her cereal around in her bowl. "I want the images to just leave my mind."

"They will, baby, but you can't just stop talking about it. It's like the accident when you were little. After a while, the images left your mind."

"All right."

"Come on, Kelly. I'll help you get dressed," Jenny said, standing up from the table and leading Kelly upstairs.

****NCIS****

After helping Kelly get some comfortable clothes on and then dressing herself, Jenny, Gibbs and Kelly headed over to the Navy Yard. The ride over was spent in a weird silence. Kelly was worrying herself over giving another account of the horrific day. Jenny was currently fighting the urge to want to grab Gibbs and kiss him, while Gibbs was thinking back on the sight he woke up to-Jenny laying in his arms, her fiery red hair splayed across his chest.

Getting to the yard and pulling the government issued car into its spot, Gibbs got out and helped Kelly. "Daddy, I just got shot in the shoulder, not my legs," she said, looking up at him with a hint of a smirk.

"Watch it," he grumbled lightly, kissing the top of her head. "Come on, we'll get Pacci to do your statement."

"Okay."

While Kelly was in the conference room with Pacci, giving her statement, Gibbs had gone into MTAC to talk with the Director.

"I'd like to ask that my team be taken off weekend duty this time," Gibbs said, looking over at Tom seriously. "I can't leave Kelly alone."

"It's already taken care of, Agent Gibbs."

"What are you talking about sir?" he asked, a little confused by his statement.

"Pacci's team will be taking over the weekend duty this week," Tom replied, not taking his eyes off the mission on the screen. "He volunteered them, knowing you'd be having your hands full with Kelly. He wanted to feel like he was helping you out."

"Thank you, sir."

"Now go take care of your daughter. She deserves to have some fun this weekend."

Once Gibbs walked out of MTAC, he saw Kelly sitting at his desk, laughing at something Decker had said. Walking down the stairs quickly, he went over to his desk and stood over his daughter. "Hi Daddy," she laughed, as she had put his glasses on and was apparently trying to act like him. Now he figured out what was making her laugh-no doubt that Decker had encouraged her to do this. "Will didn't think I could act like you, so I wanted to show him."

"Kelly, what have I told you about listening to what Will tells you?"

"Not to do it, that it'll just cause me to get in trouble somehow," she replied, as Jenny sat at her desk grinning at them. "But this was too fun NOT to do."

"I swear you're more and more like your mom every day."

"I know," she answered nonchalant-like. "Can we go home now? Or go to the hospital and see Maddie?"

"Yeah, let's go. I'll call her dad once we get out to the car and see if it's okay that we stop to visit," he said, waiting for her to get up from his seat. "Then you need to rest up, cause we've got a concert to go to tomorrow night."

"Really?" She asked looking at him, her blue eyes shining hopefully.

"Yeah, Pacci volunteered to have the weekend shift, so we can go to the concert."

"Cool, thanks Chris!" she exclaimed, smiling brightly over at the agent. "Jenny, do you want to come with us? You can use Maddie's ticket. I know she won't care. You will just have to take a lot of pictures of Nick Carter for her."

"Um, Kelly I don't-" she started when an overly excited 13-year-old cut her off.

"Please Jen?" Kelly begged, her blue eyes matching those of her father's. The same eyes Jenny couldn't seem to get out of her mind. "Daddy will be kinda boring, since he doesn't even know the name of the band, much less words to the songs."

"It's fine with me, Jen," Gibbs said, seeing the hesitant look on her face.

"All right, I'll go with you guys," she replied, as Kelly ran over and hugged her carefully.

"Thanks, Jenny. This is going to be so much fun," Kelly said, her plan for getting Jibbs together was working. She thought the plans would be halted with Maddie being in the hospital, but she knew her best friend would understand her need to keep going with it. The sooner her dad realized how perfect Jenny was for him, the better off they would both be. Little did she know of the kiss between her dad and his agent, or the compromising position in which he found himself that morning when he woke up.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone you recognize. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario and company. I also don't own the Backstreet Boys. They are owned by someone, who unfortunately is not me.

****NCIS****

"I swear, for having just been shot earlier in the week, your daughter has a helluva lot of energy," Jenny chuckled as she had walked down the stairs and flopped onto the couch beside Gibbs.

"I think most of it has to do with the concert she still gets to see tomorrow night."

"How'd she do going to see Maddie today?" she asked as she poured herself some scotch she'd brought over-having decided that her boss had to be crazy for liking bourbon.

"She seemed to do okay," he replied. He looked over some cold case files. "I heard her tell Maddie that she'd write her letters every day until she wakes up; that way she's not missing out on anything."

"Who knows-it may be therapeutic for her as well."

Upstairs in her room, Kelly was trying to lay in her bed and write her first note to Maddie-but was having great difficulty in holding the notebook on her lap because of her arm. Getting out of bed, she went over and sat down at her desk. Picking up her favorite pink gel pen, she started writing about how she'd managed to talk her dad into letting Jenny stay with them for a few nights since it'd be a little bit easier having Jenny helping her shower and dress than him. She'd also told her how Jenny was going to the concert with them the next night and that she'd promised to take a lot of pictures of Nick Carter for her. Putting in a few other things about stuff that wasn't quite important, Kelly signed the note, closed her notebook and went back to her bed. Turning the TV on, she barely made it through the first ten minutes of a new episode of "Boy Meets World" before she was out like a light.

****NCIS****

Around midnight, Gibbs and Jenny were still awake talking, drinking and looking over cold case files. Of course the bourbon and scotch had been flowing more than the paper work had. Jenny tossed the folder she was looking at onto the coffee table. Stretching a bit, she felt the shirt she was wearing raise up a bit on her stomach. About to reach down to fix it, she felt Gibbs staring at her. Deciding to tease him a little more, she left the shirt alone and started twirling her hair around the ponytail she had it in, absently. Closing her eyes, she was feeling the effects of the scotch kicking in.

"Jen, hold still," Gibbs said softly, as he had been staring at her-taking in the beauty that radiated off her. Reaching over, he let one of his calloused hands brush her cheek, making her eyes snap open. "You have an eyelash." Neither one was aware that their faces were inching dangerously close together until they were locked in a searing hot kiss

Wrapping an arm around his neck, she tangled her fingers in his hair-allowing herself to feel everything that she'd been thinking about since the first time she'd met him back in April. Letting him pull her onto his lap, she could feel her lungs burning for air. Leaning, she tossed her head back lightly, granting him access to her neck and the top of her chest. The squared neckline of her shirt giving him the slightest hint of her cleavage. Pulling his mouth back to hers, she could feel his erection straining inside his jeans-as she unconsciously moved against him. "Mmm, Jethro," she moaned softly as he reached up and took her hair down from the holder it was in. He then tangled his fingers in her long tresses.

"Damn it Jen," he mumbled, running his hands down her back before resting them on her ass as she continued moving against him.

"Heh," she chuckled lightly. She started kissing his neck-hoping to deliver the same torture to him that he'd done to her. Letting go of any inhibitions she may have had, her hands fell down between their bodies. She was determined to get his shirt un-tucked and pull it away from his body. She was slowly making progress on it when she felt his hands sneak up the back of her shirt-moving forward and cupping her breasts in his rough, experienced hands.

Before things could heat up between them more, they heard a glass break upstairs and Kelly yelling, "Crap! Daddy, I knocked over my water glass and it broke."

Pulling back abruptly, Gibbs saw the shocked look on Jenny's face. Mistaking it for a look of regret at what they had done, he sent her a quick apologetic look before helping her off his lap. He quickly left to go clean up the glass and check on Kelly.

Wanting to calm herself down, Jenny tried to blink back the stinging tears of humiliation and rejection. She had once again allowed Leroy Jethro Gibbs to get inside her mind. Fixing her clothes, she quickly slid into her tennis shoes and grabbed her things-before going out to her car and driving away. Knowing she didn't need to get pulled over for drunk driving, she drove around the block and pulled into the park that was near Gibbs' house. Climbing into the backseat of her convertible, she pulled the hood up on her sweatshirt and wrapped her coat around her. She fell asleep, haunted by the memories of what she had almost done.

****NCIS****

"Sorry Daddy," Kelly said, as Gibbs was picking up the last of the broken glass from her floor. "I was trying to reach for my lamp to turn it on; my hand knocked into the glass."

"It's all right, Kel."

"I'm going to go back to sleep now," she mumbled, her eyes already closing and her breathing evening out.

"Sweet dreams," he said softly, leaning down and kissing her forehead.

Walking back downstairs, Gibbs was a little startled when he didn't see Jenny or her things in the living room. "Surely to God she's not stupid enough to drive home-after drinking half a bottle of scotch tonight," he muttered to himself as he looked out the front door. Not seeing her car in the driveway, he cursed himself mentally. He knew that he let the situation get out of hand. He had all but taken advantage of her-wondering slightly what would have happened had Kelly not knocked over her water glass and yelled for him. Would they have crossed the forbidden barrier? He was the Senior Agent on the team, her boss-yet he still wanted her. It was nearly impossible for him to get her out of his thoughts. Every time he closed his eyes, he kept picturing her on his lap, his hands feeling places that guys like Burley had only ever THOUGHT of touching. It was obvious though that she did not reciprocate those feelings. Shaking his head clear, he needed to focus on what truly was important to him-making sure that Kelly was safe and healthy. He could worry about himself later.

****NCIS****

Jenny woke up the next morning, her head pounding from the scotch binge the night before. She was freezing and in a desperate need of a hot shower. Climbing back over to the driver's seat, she started the ignition and headed back to her townhouse. She was lost in the thought about the previous night. When she first started waking up, she had wondered if maybe it had just been one of her many dreams again. Feeling the kink in her neck from sleeping in the backseat, she quickly realized that it had indeed happened. Jethro Gibbs had once again done a number on her mind. She pulled up in front of her house a little bit later, still completely confused by everything. How she wished she could get out of going to the concert later that night, but she did not want to let Kelly down. She had promised her a long time ago, that even if she had to ever leave NCIS or her father's team-they'd still be close. She now found herself wondering if that could ever be the case.

"Daddy!" Kelly called, walking down the stairs that morning. She'd looked in his bedroom and didn't find him; so she wasn't sure if he had already gotten up. Going into the kitchen, she didn't see the coffee brewing or any hints of breakfast being started. Walking down into the basement, she wasn't all that surprised at finding him sleeping underneath the frame of the boat. "Dad, wake up."

"Huh?" Gibbs asked, sitting up quickly and smacking his forehead against one of the ribs of the boat. "Damn!"

"Hehe, maybe now you'll start sleeping in your room," Kelly giggled, smiling at him. "Can you make pancakes for breakfast?"

"Sure," he grumbled, holding onto his head lightly as he climbed out from inside the boat.

"Where's Jenny at?" she asked, as they climbed the stairs. "I didn't see her either."

"She went home last night," he replied, walking over and getting the batter ready to start the pancakes. "She'll be back in time to go to the concert."

"All right," she replied, looking at him weirdly. "I'm gonna go watch TV until breakfast is ready."

"Do you want cinnamon in them this time?"

"We got any chocolate chips?" she asked, as those sounded better to her.

"I'll look and see."

Nodding her head, she walked toward the living room. "I'll take cinnamon if we don't have any!"

****NCIS****

Jenny arrived back at Gibbs' house later that afternoon, knowing she would need to help Kelly get ready. Letting herself inside, she walked upstairs and knocked on Kelly's door.

"Jenny!" she exclaimed, wrapping her good arm around her in a hug. "Dad said we can go get something to eat before the concert. Can you help me get this top on?"

"Sure sweetie," she answered with a smile. She helped her get dressed before pulling her hair into two French braided pigtails.

"Now you promised to take a lot of pictures of Nick Carter for me, well for Maddie," she said, looking up at her. "I mean, I like Nick Carter too, but I'll get to see him in person. At least this way Maddie can have some pictures that someone she knows has taken."

"Slow down Kelly, you're talking almost as fast as Abby," she laughed as they stood up to leave the room. "I will make sure there are plenty of pictures. I'll drop them off on my way home tonight so they can get developed."

"I'm just really excited," she said, smiling up at her. "I mean, this is like my first real concert I've ever been too. My mom went and saw the Beach Boys when she was pregnant with me, but that doesn't really count."

"Well, this is the first concert I've been to in several years," Jenny laughed, as they walked downstairs. "Go get your dad, and we can head on out of here."

"Daddy!" she yelled, since he was down in the basement working on making Kelly something for Christmas.

"We ready to go?" he asked, walking into the living room-giving Jenny an unreadable look.

"Did you want me to drive, boss?" Jenny asked, with a hint of a smartass tone to her words.

"No, I'll drive," he said, reaching out and taking her keys out of her hand. "Let's go."

Looking at him in a cross between incredulous and pissed off, Jenny followed him out of the house. "What do you think you are doing?"

"Driving us to Baltimore to see a concert."

"You are NOT driving my car-nobody drives my car but me."

"Well then I guess you won't be going to the concert, will you?" he asked, getting in the driver's seat with a smug look.

"Kelly, I'm going to strangle your father," she said, making the young girl giggle.

"I think you guys are funny," Kelly replied, getting in the backseat of the car and waiting for Jenny to get in. "Let's go people, we've got a concert to see."

"Oh I will get you back for this Leroy Jethro Gibbs," she muttered, as she walked over to the passenger side and got in. "You better not drive all Gibbs like in my car."

"Gibbs like?" Kelly asked, looking at her dad and Jenny weirdly.

"It's a nicer way than saying like a bat out of hell," she replied, smirking at her now scowling boss, lightly.

"I do not drive like that with my child in the car," he growled as they headed toward the highway to take them to Baltimore.

"All right," she shrugged. "Just making sure."

****NCIS****

After stopping at a Chinese buffet in downtown Baltimore, the trio arrived at the Baltimore Arena for the concert. Of course, there was a mad rush of screaming teenage girls-giving Gibbs the first of many migraine headaches of the night. He was trying to keep everyone from bumping into Kelly and jostling her shoulder around. He wanted her to be able to enjoy the concert that night-without her shoulder screaming in pain.

"Daddy, can you buy me and Maddie shirts before we leave tonight?"

"Yeah, let's get them before the show," he replied. "I have a feeling it'll be a madhouse trying to get out of here once this show is over."

"Where are the seats at?" Jenny asked, as they stood in line waiting for the doors to open.

"You'll see," he said, indicating that it was a surprise for Kelly.

"Jenny, I'm glad you could come with us tonight," Kelly said softly, looking down at the ground. "I just wish Maddie was here though."

"I know sweetie; she's your best friend. You girls were supposed to come to the concert together."

"Those stupid guys had to ruin everything for us," she said, reaching up and wiping the tears away from her eyes angrily.

"Hey now," Gibbs said, moving to stand in front of her. "You do not think about those two anymore. You are here to have fun-you have fun for Maddie as well. Then tomorrow you can go to the hospital and tell her about this concert and that you screamed your head off for Rick or Mick."

"It's NICK, Daddy," she giggled, smiling up at him. "Okay-I will have fun."

"That's my girl," he said, hugging her to his side and winking at Jenny.

"You really knew his name was Nick, didn't you?" Jenny asked, turning her head away from Kelly so she couldn't hear the conversation with Gibbs.

"Well, he's hanging up on my daughter's wall," he said. "My adopted daughter, he's all she talks about. I should hope I know his name."

"They're letting us in!" Kelly squealed, as she saw the doors opening up and their line moving a bit.

"Let's go," Jenny chuckled as they got up to the door where both she and Gibbs had to show their ID's so they could have their weapons inside the building.

****NCIS****

"Oh my God!" Kelly screamed as she saw they had seats in the level above the floor and first row-giving her a perfect view of the stage. "Daddy these seats are awesome!"

"Yeah, I thought you might be happy with them."

"You'll hold onto my stuff right?" she asked, knowing she wouldn't be able to hang onto the bag with hers and Maddie's shirts, plus her coat.

"Yes Kel, I'll hold your stuff. Although you could just sit it in the chair."

"It'll fall through the chair once they're folded up. You really need to get out of the basement more," she teased, as they were sitting down waiting for the show to start. "They're like movie theatre seats. I love my coat too much to get it dirty. People spill stuff on the floor and it runs all over the place."

Before he could reply, the lights began flickering, bass drums started playing-and to one Special Agent's chagrin, an arena full of teenage and little girls started screaming.

"Jethro, can you hold this please?" Jenny asked, taking off her coat and letting him see the tight shirt she was wearing. It showed off a lot of her cleavage, which in turn was driving him crazy. In fact, her entire outfit seemed to be painted on her body. Everything was hugging her in the right way. He realized that it was going to be a long night for him if he had to stare at Jenny's perfectly proportioned ass wiggling in his face as she moved with the beat of the music.

As Jenny stood listening to the words to the band's latest single-'I'll Never Break Your Heart' she chuckled dryly. She thought about the few tears she had let escape her while she was in the shower that morning. She couldn't believe that; a) she was crying over her boss, b) she had let him get that close-that she could put her walls down. She had beaten herself up mentally that morning for giving into the temptation and not making herself pull away from him. Both times he'd kissed her, he pulled away with a look of regret in his eyes. Although at that moment she could feel those steely cobalt blue eyes staring at her. She made sure to lean over the railing just enough to make it seem plausible that she was trying to get a picture of Nick since he was finally on their side of the stage. She wanted to torture him even more-letting him see what he was missing out on.

****NCIS****

By the time the concert was over, Kelly hardly had a voice, Jenny was feeling a little victorious in her efforts at teasing-and Gibbs, well he was more than a little uncomfortable.

"Thanks for holding my coat, boss," Jenny said, grabbing her coat off Gibbs lap and putting it back on.

"Daddy, that was the best concert and birthday present ever!" Kelly exclaimed, or tried to until her voice cracked making her giggle. "It was worth losing my voice over."

"I'm glad you had fun," he replied, smiling over at her. "Now you'll have a lot to tell Maddie tomorrow-if you can talk that is."

"Oh I'll be able to talk," she said as they were trying to get out of the arena. "You're going to drop the pictures off, right Jenny?"

"Yeah, as soon as I drop you guys off at home and I help you get changed for bed."

"Good."

****NCIS****

After Jenny helped Kelly, she headed back downstairs to leave when Gibbs stopped her.

"With me," he growled, grabbing her hand and pulling her down to the basement. "What the hell were you thinking? Leaving here last night drunk like that. You think you're invincible, that nothing could happen to you cause you're Jenny Shepard?"

"For your information, I went to the park nearby," she growled right back, not backing down from him in the slightest.

"What was all that at the concert tonight?" he asked, putting himself nose to nose with her.

"Well, Jethro, if I need to explain this to you, maybe you're not really ready for an adult relationship," she answered, smirking when she saw the affect of her words. Walking over to the stairs, she called back over her shoulder. "I was giving you a taste of what you missed out on. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You won't get to fool me again."

Watching Jenny walk up the stairs, Gibbs was dumbfounded. He had been sure that he saw regret in her eyes the night before. Now she was acting as though she had enjoyed everything, possibly wanting more. Deciding that she was too confusing and that it wouldn't benefit either of them to start a relationship he shook his head clear, and decided to give Ducky a call the next day. He had mentioned that he knew a nice redhead that would fit his type. He said her name was Stephanie something. Maybe he could give her a call and set up a date; hopefully to get his mind off another redhead he knew was off limits.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. They are all owned by Donald Bellasario.

****NCIS****

The next couple of weeks flew by fairly fast for Gibbs. He had been out on several dates with Stephanie-hoping to get rid any thoughts of Jenny or her body on his, moving in that sexy little way she did.

"Dad, Jenny can't watch me tonight," Kelly said, as she joined him in the living room. "She's got a date or something like that."

Looking at Kelly in shock, he felt a twinge of jealousy at hearing Jenny was going out on a date. He was grateful he had his own date that night-maybe being with Stephanie would get his mind off Jenny. "Do you want to stay with Abby?"

"Or you could just not go," she said, seeing the look that crossed his face at her declaration of Jenny being on a date.

"You want to stay with her or not?"

"Fine, I'll call her and ask her if she can babysit me."

After getting it set up that Abby would watch Kelly at her place that night, Gibbs had her pack an overnight bag and got her out to the truck. "Please try to come home in a better mood tomorrow."

"I didn't realize I was in a bad mood," she said, looking over at him. "Just because I don't get why you are dating someone so quick after filing for divorce from Diane, doesn't mean I'm in a bad mood."

"You sound so much like your mom when you said that," he said, trying not to gape at her. "She used to always say she wasn't in a bad mood when she was mad at me, then give me some little excuse after saying she wasn't mad."

"Yeah, well I'm sure mom wouldn't understand this either," she said, rubbing her shoulder lightly. She had been cleared to move around slowly without her sling. Her doctor was optimistic that everything was healing nicely-so she had given Kelly some good news at her last appointment-if she continued on her road to a good recovery, she'd be allowed to return to all normal activity before the New Year.

"Kelly, just because I'm going out with someone does not mean that I'm going to marry them."

"You married Diane awfully quick," she said, rolling her eyes. "That's not saying much for your track record with women."

"Yeah, and look how badly it ended because I didn't get to really know her."

"Fine, whatever. Just take me to Abby's," she said, scared that she wouldn't be able to get her dad and Jenny together. With Maddie being in the hospital, there wasn't anyone to help her conspire to put them in the same room together. She knew she could talk to Abby, but there wasn't a lot of time that they could put into making it happen. At least with Maddie, they were around each other constantly-Maddie understood WHY Kelly was pushing so hard for her dad and Jenny to be together. She wasn't sure if Abby really understood. Before she knew it, Gibbs was pulling up in front of Abby's building. Getting out of the truck, Kelly started toward the building-when she heard Gibbs calling after her.

"Wait a second, Kel."

"What?" she asked, looking back at him.

"I'm going to walk you inside," he answered, thinking in his mind how he was hoping that his shooting hadn't changed things between the two of them-and that she wasn't becoming a moody teenager.

****NCIS****

Kelly and Abby sat around that night watching movies and plotting how to get Gibbs and Jenny together-well Kelly was plotting. Abby was trying to get her to see reason. "Sweetie, don't you think that if your dad and Jenny wanted to be together, they would be by now?"

"Abby, Dad's just really stubborn. I saw his reaction when I said that Jenny had a date tonight and couldn't watch me," she said, looking at her seriously. "He had like this look I can't describe on his face."

"Sounds like he's jealous," she said, mulling it over and thinking that Kelly may really be onto something.

"If he's so happy dating Stephanie, why would he be jealous that Jenny has a date?" she asked, looking at her questioningly. She had no real understanding of why guys did this, so it was nice to get some perspective from an 'older sister' type.

"That's just how guys are sometimes, kid," she answered honestly. "They have no real rhyme or reason for the things that they do."

"I've seen the way they look at each other though, Abby. They both like each other."

"What look is this?"

"Jenny looks all starry-eyed at my dad, and he looks at her differently than he did Diane or Ginger," she said. "He probably only looked at my mom that way. I don't remember though."

"So why don't you tell your dad to ask Jenny out on a date?"

"You really think he's going to listen to me?" she asked, standing up from the couch. "I'm going to go get my pajamas on, I'll be right back."

"Okay," she replied, wishing she had better advice to offer Kelly-although she had no idea what she was going through. She had been a lot older when her own parents died-not just a little girl and having to grow up through adolescence without her mom. Of course it didn't take too much convincing from Kelly to make her want to help give her 'silver haired fox' a shove in the right direction-into Jenny's arms. She was shaken from her thoughts when she heard Kelly let out an ear-piercing scream.

"Ahhh! Help!" she cried, as Abby ran into the bedroom and saw Kelly clutching her shoulder and screaming in pain.

"Kelly, what happened?" she asked in a panicked voice.

"I was putting my shirt on-" she said, the pain making it difficult to talk. "It snapped really loud."

"Okay, let me call your dad. You may need to get in and see your doctor," she said, going over and grabbing her 'bat phone.' After dialing his cell number, she didn't get an answer-it went straight to voicemail. Managing to get their home number out of Kelly, she called it but it just rang and rang. Doing this for almost twenty minutes and not ever getting an answer, she was unsure of what to do. Finally she decided to call Jenny and see if she had any suggestions.

"Hello," Jenny's soft alto voice answered, making Abby cringe internally when she heard the waiter asking if they wanted another bottle of wine.

"Jenny, it's Abby," she started, before rushing everything out. "Listen, I've got Kelly over here and she went to put her pajama top on, and she let out this blood curling scream. Well, not really blood curling but it was bone chilling, that's it-"

"Abbs, take a deep breath and slow down," Jenny said, her heart hammering in her chest when she heard Kelly still screaming and crying in pain. "Why didn't you call Jethro?"

"I tried, for twenty minutes I have tried to reach the man who has a rule to never be unreachable," she stated emphatically. "Jenny, I don't know what's wrong with her shoulder, but she said it snapped."

Sending an apologetic look to her date, Jenny grabbed her purse and headed toward the coat check. "I'll be there as soon as I can. I'm at least twenty minutes from your place. Keep trying to call Jethro if you can. Does she have any of her pain medicine with her? Try and get her to at least drink a glass of milk if she doesn't feel like eating. It can not be taken on an empty stomach, otherwise she will get violently sick."

"Okay, I'll ask her," she said, before hanging up the phone. "Kel, did you bring any medicine with you?"

"No, I haven't had to take it since a few days after the shooting," she answered, her sobs lessening a bit. "Daddy usually just gave me Ibuprofen if it started aching any."

"Okay," she said, still in a panic mode. "I've got Ibuprofen. I'll go get you a couple. Do you want me to make you chocolate milk to take it with?"

"Sure," she replied, as she followed her out to the kitchen.

****NCIS****

Once Jenny had picked up Kelly from Abby's, she drove her home and was a little surprised to see Gibbs' truck in the driveway. Seeing another car parked in front of the house had her wondering slightly.

"Gibbs," Stephanie moaned, as he was thrusting in and out of her, her nails scratching down his back lightly.

Not saying anything, he just continued thrusting-trying to get rid of the image of Jenny on a date with another man. He knew he was using Stephanie to get past his feelings for Jenny since she clearly didn't have feelings for him. Leaning in and kissing around her breasts, his mind flashed back to the night before the concert when he and Jenny were on his couch. The feeling of her hot skin under his hands and lips still drove him crazy. He looked up and saw Jenny's face instead of Stephanie's-causing him to growl a bit which made Stephanie think he was enjoying their lovemaking.

Walking into the house, Jenny let the door slam lightly. Looking around, she noticed a pair of Manolo Blahnik black boots.

"Daddy!" Kelly cried, the pain in her shoulder numbed a bit from the Ibuprofen Abby had given her but it was still sore.

"Shit," Jenny heard him cuss lightly, as he came rushing out of the bedroom. Running downstairs, he didn't think about the fact he hadn't grabbed his shirt from the floor or the fact that his hair looked like someone had tangled their fingers through it. "Kelly, what's wrong?" he asked, seeing the look of hurt flashing through Jenny's eyes as he got to the bottom of the stairs.

Looking at Gibbs and Stephanie, who had walked out of the bedroom trying to fix her blouse that she had hastily threw on, in total hurt and anger-Kelly lashed out, more mad than Gibbs had ever seen her get. "I can't believe you!" she yelled. The tears in her eyes weren't from her shoulder but from the hurt that filled her with the realization of WHY her father hadn't answered the phone. "You always say it's important to be reachable! How come when I needed you, you couldn't answer your phone?"

"Kelly, calm down. Tell me what's wrong with you," he said, kneeling down in front of her. "I thought you were at Abby's?"

Pulling away from him and going upstairs, she went into the bathroom to get her medicine. Jenny was still holding her bag downstairs.

"Jethro, it's kind of hypocritical don't you think? You tell us we need to follow your rules, yet you're allowed to break them?" Jenny asked, looking at him-the hurt resounding on her features. "Kelly went to put her pajamas on tonight and her shoulder snapped. It doesn't look like any bones are sticking out, so you may just want to take her to the doctor tomorrow."

Reaching in his jeans' pocket, he grabbed his phone and cursed himself mentally when he realized it was on silent. Seeing he had a lot of missed calls from Abby's house, as well as Jenny's cell phone, made him feel like a complete ass. Before he could say anything, Kelly came back downstairs with her medicine. "Jenny, can I stay with you tonight? I really don't want to stay here with him."

"I don't care, Kelly, but you really need to ask your dad," she said, not wanting to just take her.

"I'll be out in the car," she said, not giving Gibbs a chance to say yes or no.

"Let her stay the night with me tonight; I'll try and talk to her. I'll get her to see that maybe it was an accident on your part, having your phone turned down and not answering the house phone."

"All right," he sighed, almost wishing the whole night hadn't happened.

Unbeknownst to the two federal agents, Stephanie stood rooted on the steps and could see the feelings clearly written on their faces. She wasn't sure who Jenny was or wasn't to Gibbs. She knew that she wasn't Kelly's mother; Ducky had told her that Shannon had died years before and that Gibbs was raising Kelly on his own. She sure hadn't wanted her first meeting with the girl to be when she came into the house screaming in pain and seeing them stumbling out of the bedroom half dressed and disheveled. Going over to the door, she slid her feet into the boots and turned her attention back to Gibbs. "I had a nice time tonight; I just don't think we should see each other anymore," she said softly, knowing that he wouldn't and probably hadn't been with her mentally after seeing the longing look he had been giving Jenny.

"I'm sorry, Stephanie," he said, looking at her sincerely.

"I know."

Once Stephanie had left, Gibbs turned to look at Jenny. "I'll call Dr. Montgomery in the morning and see if she can somehow squeeze Kelly in."

"All right, make sure you have your phone turned up in case Kelly needs you during the night," she said, unable to help the smart ass remark she made to him. It infuriated her to no end that he chewed her out for not having her phone ringer on a couple months ago-but he was the infallible Leroy Jethro Gibbs, so apparently his rules didn't apply to him.

"Jenny," he growled, his look matching his tone.

"I'll call you in the morning, if nothing else happens tonight," she said, turning on her heel and walking back to her car. "You ready to go, sweetie?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, leaning her head against the window. "Does my dad really think I'm that stupid I wouldn't know what he was doing?"

"He doesn't think you're stupid. I think he just forgets sometimes that you're a teenager now-you're bound to know a lot more than he thinks you know."

"Yeah, well I'm sure I should be getting ready for wedding number three here soon," she said, picking at the sling she was wearing. Jenny had helped her get it back on before they had left Abby's, knowing her shoulder needed to be stabilized.

"I wouldn't go getting wedding gifts yet," she chuckled, glancing over at her. "Kel, he's not going to marry her just because they went on a date."

"I just want to eat something and go to sleep," she said, changing the subject quickly.

"That's fine. I'll fix you a sandwich when we get to the house."

"Has Noemi made her chicken salad lately?"

Nodding her head lightly, she glanced over at her. "She made it yesterday afternoon actually."

"Good, that's what I want," she replied, the first hint of a smile on her face since Jenny had picked her up. "I'm sorry I ruined your date tonight."

"Don't worry about it, sweetie. He was actually quite boring to me."

"Oh," she giggled, as Jenny pulled up in front of her house. "Then I'm not sorry."

Shaking her head at her lightly, she turned off the car. "Let's get inside."

Once she'd gotten Kelly fed and settled in the guest room for the night, Jenny went to her room and changed into pajamas. She went downstairs and fixed herself a cup of tea, hoping that it would relax her enough to be able to sleep. Her mind was racing with thoughts of her boring date with Mitchell Sullivan. All he wanted to talk about was law stuff-which she was convinced was putting her to sleep with her eyes open. She couldn't have been more thankful for the call from Abby-until she heard Kelly crying and was told what happened. Her mind was not letting her get over Gibbs, or his hands touching and igniting her body. She even thought she saw a look of remorse cross his face when she and Kelly caught him just after he and Stephanie finished. She couldn't seem to understand WHY she was letting him get to her so much. She'd had several flings throughout college and the start of her career; yet none of them ever made her feel the things that Gibbs caused within her. Maybe she could talk to Director Morrow and find out if she could take a vacation after the first of the year. Getting some space and time away to clear her mind may get her thinking clearly again for the first time since she'd laid eyes on the silver haired fox.

Gibbs was lying in the basement, staring up at the boat over top of him. He couldn't believe that the evening had turned into such a disaster. He had done the one thing he swore he'd never do-that was being inaccessible to Kelly. The crushed, heartbroken look on her face when he and Stephanie came down the stairs was enough to break him. He knew he had a lot of work to do to make this up to his daughter. He would start tomorrow making it up to Kelly-he just hoped she would talk to him.

He wasn't sure, but he thought he had seen a look of pain cross Jenny's face. Surely she couldn't have been jealous about him being with Stephanie? He swore he saw a look of regret flash on her face the other night after Kelly had knocked over the glass in her room. He knew he had been wrong in using Stephanie the way he had, but he needed to get his mind off the fiery redhead who worked on his team. Unfortunately his quest to get his mind off her led to him hurting three women in his life. One being said redhead, only he couldn't seem to figure out why. At least Stephanie seemed to be somewhat understanding; well as understanding as a woman can get after she sees the man she just had sex with looking at another woman like he's in love with her. Shaking his head clear, he got up and went to grab a sander, needing to work out his frustration.

****NCIS****

The next morning, Kelly woke up before Jenny or so she thought. Walking down the stairs, she was holding onto her arm, hoping to keep the pain from coming back. Going into the kitchen, she saw Noemi there fixing breakfast.

"Morning Noemi," she said, sitting down at the island.

"Morning Senorita," she replied, setting a plate with an omelet and bacon down in front of her. "Senora said you must eat before I give you your medicine. She is talking with your father in her study."

"Actually, we're right here," Jenny said, as she and Gibbs walked into the kitchen. "Kelly, your dad has made you an appointment with Dr. Montgomery so she can look at your shoulder. Do you think you can hold off taking a pain pill till after you see her?"

"I guess so," she mumbled, pushing the omelet around on her plate.

"Noemi, let's give the two of them some time alone," Jenny said, motioning for her housekeeper to follow her.

"Si, Senora."

"Hey Kel," Gibbs said, sitting down beside her at the island.

"Hi," she mumbled, not meeting his gaze.

"Look, about what happened last night-I never meant to turn down my phone."

"Yeah, well you did," she said, looking up at him then. "What's your excuse for not answering the house phone? Abby and Jenny called that one too."

"I didn't know it was off the charger; the battery died on it."

"Okay, I'll give you that one-that was my fault."

"Kelly, you know you're the most important person in my life. I would never do anything to intentionally hurt or ignore you."

"It felt like you were tired of dealing with me, that you'd rather be too involved with your date than worrying about me or my shoulder."

"Baby, that's not true," he said, feeling a piece of his heart break at her words. "Nothing is more important to me than you. It was a stupid mistake on my part to turn the volume down on my phone. One that I will never make again."

"All right," she sighed, as she hated fighting with him. She hadn't slept well the night before-mainly because she was upset about their fight. "Just don't do it again."

"I won't," he vowed, pulling her close to him carefully and kissing the top of her head. "Love you, Kel."

"Love you too, Daddy," she replied, laying her head on his chest. "Can we go home after the doctor? I'm tired."

"Yeah sweetie, we'll go home."

"Good, ask Jenny if she'll come with us to the doctor. I need to go get dressed."

"Do you want me to get her to help you?"

"No, I'm just changing into my jeans. I'm used to doing that one-handed."

"All right," he said, as he dreaded the conversation with Jenny. Being in that close proximity to her was driving him insane. He couldn't understand why HE, of all people, was tempted to break his own rules all of a sudden. He just couldn't get it out of his mind what it would feel like to have Jenny moaning his name, writhing underneath him as they made love well into the night.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize is owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: I am not a doctor, nor could I find the answers I needed online, so we'll just say that Kelly's shoulder stuff is legit. Thanks for all the reviews to the last chapter. I promise Stephanie is gone from the story a lot faster than I was able to kick Diane out.

****NCIS****

The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful for Gibbs and Kelly. They were slowly working through Kelly's anger at him about the missed phone calls. The doctor had said that her shoulder popping was normal; she hadn't moved her shoulder much for a couple weeks, so the popping was to be expected. She needed to take her time doing things like dressing or anything that required her to move her arm more than chest high.

Monday had come a lot sooner than Kelly had hoped. Gibbs was driving her to school that morning, which would be her first time back in the building since the shooting. They had closed off the entire East Wing of the school, rearranging class schedules to accommodate ones that had any classes on that side of the school.

"I'll pick you up after school today, Kel," Gibbs said, seeing the hesitant look on his daughter's face as she looked up at the building that used to feel safe to her. "If I can't make it, someone from the team will be here-or Abby if you want."

"That's fine, whoever you can get."

"All right, well I love you."

"Love you too," she mumbled, as she got out of the truck. She stood staring at the building. Unsure what the inside would look like, which of her classmates were still recovering from injuries or what people would ask her, her nerves were making her stomach a jumbled up mess. Looking behind her, she sent a faint smile to Gibbs and watched as he pulled away. Biting her lip softly, Kelly turned and headed down the sidewalk away from the school. She wasn't ready to go back in and face the horrors of that day. She knew she wouldn't be allowed in that section of the school, but being in that building-she wasn't ready yet.

****NCIS****

"Hey Boss, Director wants to see you up in his office," Will said as Gibbs walked into the squad room and passed his desk.

"Okay." He went to his desk and put his badge and gun in the drawer. "Where are Jenny and Burley?"

"Jenny's down talking to Abby about something-Burley had that polygraph this morning."

"All right," he replied before heading up to the director's office.

****NCIS****

Kelly managed to walk back to her neighborhood, deciding to go over to Maddie's house. Walking up the front path, she climbed the steps to the door. Ringing the bell, she worked at keeping the truth from appearing on her face as to why she was really there. "Kelly, what are you doing here?" Mrs. Tyler asked, seeing her 'other daughter' on her front stoop.

"Dad had to go to NCIS, and I didn't want to go with him, so I thought I could come over here. Maybe go up to the hospital with you if you were going to see Maddie."

"All right, that's fine with me sweetie," she replied, letting her inside. "We're probably going to go in about an hour."

"Okay, is she any closer to waking up yet?" she asked, walking into the kitchen with her.

"It's a day by day thing Kelly; it's up to her to decide to wake up."

"Oh. Why's she still in a coma?"

"Her body needs time to heal, so it's put itself into a coma to give her the time that she needs."

"Makes sense I guess," she said, putting her coat on the back of the chair. "Can I go watch TV till you guys are ready to go?"

"Sure sweetie, you can watch it upstairs in Maddie's room if you want."

"Thanks," she replied before turning to leave the room.

****NCIS****

Gibbs had been back in the squad room for less than ten minutes when his phone rang, making him think they were about to catch a case. "Yeah, Gibbs."

"Agent Gibbs, this is Mrs. Jennings from Quantico Middle School," the secretary said, causing Gibbs' heart to drop to his stomach. "Kelly's not at school. Is she still not well enough to attend this week?"

"I dropped her off outside the school this morning," he said as Jenny walked into the bullpen with Abby-both women shooting Decker questioning looks.

"Oh dear," Mrs. Jennings replied, grabbing the sheet from Kelly's homeroom teacher and seeing that she was in fact marked as not being there. "Let me call her classroom and check. Maybe she got marked down as absent but was late for class or something."

"Jethro, what's the matter?" Jenny asked, as Gibbs heard the secretary calling Kelly's first class.

"Kelly's not at school," he replied, looking up at her. "I dropped her off out front this morning. That's why I was running late."

"Oh my God," Abby muttered, as they all looked at Gibbs worriedly.

"Agent Gibbs, she is not in her first period class. I will have a couple MP's look around the campus for her. I'm sure that she's here; she may have just gotten turned around since this is the first day she's been back since the shooting. We've had to move a lot of students-most of them are middle schoolers like Kelly. They had a lot of classes in the East Wing plus their lockers. I'll call you the minute we find her."

"Thank you," he said, looking up and seeing Jenny already trying to call his house and seeing if Kelly answered the phone. Hanging up, he threw the cell phone onto his desk.

"Jethro, try and calm down. It's not going to do you any good to give yourself a heart attack or something. Could she have possibly decided to skip school?"

Getting up from his desk quickly, an angry Gibbs stalked over to Jenny's desk-fixing his famous glare on her. "When it's your child that is missing Shepard, then you can tell someone to calm down. Until then, don't offer any advice like that. To answer your question, where could she have gone? She doesn't like staying home by herself. She would have come here-tried to hide down in Abby's lab or something."

"Try Maddie's house," she said, before getting up and storming away from the squad room. She needed to get away from Gibbs before she did something to actually cause him physical harm. True, Kelly may not be her daughter-but that did not mean that she didn't care about her just the same.

"Gibbs, Jenny was just trying to keep you from winding up in the hospital," Abby said quietly, unable to believe she just heard Gibbs say what he had. "I mean, what good would you be to Kelly if you had a heart attack and she's really at school, just turned around in the building or whatever?"

Instead of answering her, Gibbs dialed over to Maddie's house-his last bit of sanity relying on the Tylers saying that Kelly was there. "Hello, Tyler residence," Kelly said, having answered the phone for Maddie's mom.

"Kelly Marie Gibbs!" he exclaimed, hearing his daughter answer the phone. "What in the hell are you doing over there and not at school?"

"Oh crap," she muttered before hanging up on him.

"Gibbs found Kelly," Abby mumbled, as Jenny walked back into the squad room. "She was at Maddie's."

"We'll handle things here, boss," Decker said, knowing that Gibbs needed to go get Kelly and get this straightened out.

****NCIS****

"Kelly, who was on the phone?" Melissa Tyler asked, walking into the living room where Kelly was.

"My dad," she mumbled, not meeting her gaze. "I kind of lied to you when I got here."

"Oh Kelly," she said, going and wrapping an arm around her. "Why aren't you really in school?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Kelly got up and went back upstairs to Maddie's room.

Not even ten minutes later, Gibbs showed up and knocked on the door. "Hello Jethro," Melissa said, as she let him inside. "Kelly's upstairs in Maddie's room."

"Thanks," he mumbled, looking more than a little bit aggravated by the situation.

"Hi Dad," Kelly muttered, walking down the stairs with her bag and coat.

"Let's go young lady," he said, having never been as angry with Kelly as he was right then.

"Yes sir."

Going out to the truck, Kelly got inside quietly-never meeting Gibbs' glare. She knew that she had messed up, but she wasn't sure how to walk back into that school again. Telling her dad seemed too daunting a task-how does the daughter of a former Marine tell him that she's scared of something? Marines don't get scared, which means their children aren't supposed to be scared either.

"Kelly, when we get home I want you to go up to your room," he said, driving the block and a half over to their house. "I need to calm down before I even begin to try and talk to you."

"Daddy, I'm sorry," she mumbled, looking up at him. "I just…"

"Young lady, what was going through your mind skipping school like that?" he asked, turning to look at her. "Are you acting out because of my dating Stephanie and what happened over the weekend?"

"Is that all you can think about?" she yelled, tears falling down her cheeks. Getting out of the truck, she called over her shoulder as she walked up to the house, "I wish Mom was still alive; she'd at least care about me."

Slamming his palm against the steering wheel, Gibbs tried to rein his temper in. He knew that going at Kelly like that wouldn't be right. He just wasn't ready to hear her excuses when she started to explain. Once he got out of the truck, he headed into the house-knowing both he and Kelly needed time to cool down before he attempted to talk with her again.

"Jenny, he doesn't even care," Kelly cried, having called her as soon as she got upstairs to her room. "He just assumed that it was because of him not answering his phone the other night. He doesn't care WHY I didn't want to go to school today. He just yelled at me for not going."

"Sweetie, your dad is just very upset right now," she tried to explain, knowing that Kelly was an emotional wreck. "He drops you off at school and watches you walk toward the building. Then when he gets to work and he gets a phone call saying you're not there. You're his entire world, little girl. He would be lost without you there with him."

"Yeah, well he has a real funny way of showing it."

"Listen, I'll come over after work. I'll be the mediator between you two; you can discuss with him why your butt wasn't at school."

"Thanks Jenny."

"Welcome."

****NCIS****

Later that afternoon, Kelly heard someone knock on the door. Knowing it was most likely Jenny, she went downstairs as Gibbs was letting her inside. "Shepard, what are you doing here?"

"I came to play peacemaker with you and Kelly," she answered, walking into the doorway. "Jethro, you do not know the whole story of why she wasn't at school."

"Hi Jenny," Kelly said, walking up behind Gibbs.

"Hi honey," Jenny replied, wrapping an arm around her shoulders lightly. "Let's go in the living room and talk.

Following Jenny, the three of them got seated comfortably. Kelly was sitting beside Jenny on the couch while Gibbs sat in the chair across from them.

"Kelly, let's start off with the main question. Why did you ditch school today?" she asked, looking over at her.

"Well, it wasn't because of Dad's date with Stephanie the other night," she muttered, causing Jenny to slap her good shoulder lightly. "I can't go back in that building."

"Why not?" Gibbs asked, before his brain could stop him. He wanted to smack himself when the pieces started falling into place.

"I know they have the East Wing closed off, but the idea of going back in the building scares me."

"Honey, that's a normal fear," Gibbs said, looking her in the eye. "Why didn't you say that this morning?"

"Marines aren't supposed to get scared," she mumbled, picking at the hem of her sweatshirt.

"You're not a Marine though Kel," he said, trying to get inside her head and understand a little better. "You're just a girl that had something horrific happen to her. You are allowed to be afraid. It is normal for you to be afraid."

"I was afraid I'd keep hearing the gunshots going off. I mean, I know they're dead and they can't shoot us again-but what's stopping some other crazy lunatic from doing the same thing?"

Getting up and moving over to the couch beside her, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Jenny moved back a little to give them space to continue mending whatever had been damaged between them. "There is nothing, but you can not spend the rest of your life wondering and looking over your shoulder."

"I don't think I'm ready to go back to school yet," she said, as she still had horrible nightmares from that day-ones that she hadn't even told them about.

"Okay, well we'll continue talking about this," he said, hugging her to him gently. "No matter what you think, I want you to know you can talk to me about anything. Even if you think I'll get mad, you can still tell me. You can't let all these emotions stay bottled up inside of you."

"I keep having this same nightmare," she mumbled, looking straight ahead at the wall, worrying Jenny who could see the look on her face.

"Jethro, I think she's going into a trance," Jenny muttered, causing him to look down at her.

"Shit, you're right."

"They made me watch as they shot everyone I care about. You, Maddie, Jenny-the rest of the team," she mumbled, shaking lightly in Gibbs's arms. "I kept screaming for them to stop, but it just made them shoot you guys more. Every time I closed my eyes, they would shoot at me and make my eyes open back up."

"Kelly baby, come back to Daddy," Gibbs said, patting her cheeks lightly. "Sweetie, it's just a nightmare. It didn't happen like that."

After a few more minutes, she seemed to snap out of it; her head lying against his chest lightly. "Do you want to try and take a small nap?"

Nodding her head, she got up quietly and walked upstairs.

"Wow," Jenny muttered, shaking her head as she thought about everything Kelly said about her nightmares. "That's some messed up shit for that girl to go through."

"Should I try and get her in for therapy?" he asked, running a hand over his face. "I mean, I tried it after the accident and Shannon's death, but she hadn't wanted any part of it. How much more shit can my little girl be put through?"

"Jethro, she's a tough young lady. I told you that the day she got shot," she said, turning to look at him. "She survived the actual shooting. You just need to continue to believe she will survive the aftermath as well."

"Yeah, well at what cost?" he asked, lying back against the couch. "So much of her childhood was ruined by that bastard. Now her teenage years are going to be scarred by the shooting. How much can one girl possibly take?"

"Well, look at how lucky she is," she said, trying to get him to understand. "She didn't lose her life, she's not paralyzed or in the kind of condition that Maddie's in. Yeah, she may have a small scar from where the bullet hit her. It will start to fade eventually, and so will the emotional scars. It may not be tomorrow, a month from now or even five years from now. The point is the wounds will start to fade. From everything I've ever heard you say about Kelly, I know she'll bounce back from this. She needs normalcy and stability in her life. If she sees that you've gone back to work, that her routine will be normal-then she'll feel normal again."

"I swear I never thought I'd have to do this parenting thing alone," he said, thinking about Shannon briefly-knowing she had to be disappointed with him wherever she was. Too caught up in thinking about himself, he hadn't paid attention and noticed that the shooting traumatized their daughter.

"That's why you ask for help, Jethro. Have you even called your dad to let him know that Kelly's okay? Did you even let him know she had been shot? I know that you two don't see eye-to-eye on anything anymore. But why not have him come down for Thanksgiving? Kelly needs all the love and support that she can get. Having your dad here might help her see that life does go on, that we all want to see her get better and come back from this."

"I'll think about it," he said, not sure he could sit down at the same table as his father. Not after what he'd done, bringing a date to Shannon's funeral. That had been the straw that broke the camel's back. Besides, to him, Shannon had always been the one saying that Jackson deserved to at least get pictures of Kelly, even if he would rather never let his dad see her.

"Look, I'll get out of your way now," she said, standing up from the couch. "Just think about what I said okay? It may also be okay for you to let Kelly see your emotions. You don't have to act all tough guy marine around her."

"Thank you, Jenny," he said, looking up and meeting her gaze.

Sending him a small smile, she pulled her hair out of the back of her coat before answering. "You're welcome, Jethro."


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

****NCIS****

The next morning, Gibbs woke to find a small weight settled on his chest. Looking down, he saw Kelly's head laying on him-the dark circles under her eyes telling him that she'd had another rough night. Mentally head slapping himself, he was still feeling guilty at not realizing that Kelly was having nightmares and that she wasn't emotionally ready to go back to school. Reaching over to grab his phone, he dialed Ducky's number-hoping he didn't end up startling Mrs. Mallard at the early hour of the call.

"Hello," Ducky answered, almost after the first ring.

"Duck, could you do me a favor today?" Gibbs asked. He hated using his friend like this, but he really didn't think Kelly would willingly talk to some stranger.

"Certainly Jethro. What did you need?"

"Could you stop by around lunch and talk to Kelly?"

"What am I talking with her about?"

"She's been having nightmares about the shooting. I'm sure they're different each time. I know I won't be able to get her into a therapist-quite frankly I wouldn't trust their opinions."

Taking a deep breath, Ducky nodded lightly, though Gibbs couldn't see him. "You know I will do whatever I can to help Kelly, Jethro."

"Thanks," he said.

A few hours later, Kelly woke up-startled at first to realize she wasn't in her room. Then she remembered the nightmare that woke her up. Now that Gibbs knew she was suffering from nightmares, it made going to his room a lot easier. Getting out of bed, she walked downstairs where Gibbs was making her favorite for breakfast-peanut butter French toast.

"Morning Daddy," she mumbled, sitting at the table.

"Morning sweetie," he replied, kissing the top of her head as he set her plate down in front of her. "How would you like to call your grandpa and ask him to come down here for Thanksgiving?"

"Grandpa Jack?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. She only saw him once a year, when she'd go up to Stillwater for two weeks to visit and help him at his store. Gibbs would always take her there and drop her off, never saying a word to his dad. She couldn't imagine how Thanksgiving dinner would go, unless Gibbs knew he himself wasn't going to be there. "Are you going away on a mission?"

"No, why would you think that?" he asked, having thought about it the night before and decided to take Jenny's advice. He hoped having Jackson down for Thanksgiving would help get Kelly's life back to as normal as she could get.

"You actually want to have Grandpa here?"

"Kelly, right now you need your family around you. Sadly, I'm it besides your grandparents. Joanne and Eric are taking a cruise through the Bahamas or whatever."

"Can Jenny and Abby come for dinner too?"

"Yes, you can invite them too," he chuckled, having already talked to Abby about it-he knew that she would be there bright and early to watch the parade with them. He still kept thinking about Jenny and the reaction she had to seeing Stephanie the other night. Women never made much sense to Gibbs, especially after losing Shannon. He knew Jenny would come to dinner, more for Kelly than anything. He just hoped that she didn't already have plans-he was looking forward to spending the holiday with her.

****NCIS****

"Where's Gibbs?" Jenny asked, having been away taking her polygraph test. She returned to the squad room and was surprised to not see Gibbs scowling at his desk.

"He's taking the rest of the week off, probably most of next week as well," Will replied, looking over at her. "He said Kelly's really messed up from this shooting. Director's giving him some of his unused leave time to try and help her get through this."

"Good, she definitely needs to be able to talk about this."

"Jenny!" Abby exclaimed, walking into the bullpen. "Are you going to Gibbs for Thanksgiving? He called me this morning and invited me to come over and have dinner with them."

"I don't know, Abs. He hasn't asked me."

"So, you know you're welcome there. I mean, you've been helping out with Kelly this whole time-why wouldn't you be invited to Thanksgiving dinner?"

"I'll wait for an invite. I'm not going to just show up."

"Fine, but you should come with me."

****NCIS****

Kelly was in the living room working on homework, trying to stay caught up with her classes. Gibbs had called the school that morning and informed them that she wouldn't be back for a little while. He had asked if there was a way that she could still get homework assignments from her teachers. Given the circumstances surrounding the shooting, the principal was more than willing to oblige. Gibbs sat across from her, pretending to read the paper-but was actually watching her carefully. She hadn't said anything about what had brought her into his room in the middle of the night. He was afraid of asking her, not sure if it would send her back into a trance. Seeing the look of frustration on her face, he figured it was something to do with her homework. "Do you need some help, sweetie?"

"Why do you keep staring at me?" she asked, looking at him a little irritated. "I can't concentrate with you staring holes in me, waiting for me to break or whatever."

"Sorry," he mumbled as a knock on the door was heard. Getting up, he went over and saw Ducky standing on the other side. Letting him in, he muttered softly to him, "Thanks for doing this, Duck."

"It's not a problem, Jethro," he replied, taking off his hat and coat. "Hello Kelly."

"Hey Ducky," she said, turning around and looking at him. "What are you doing over here in the middle of the day?"

"Well, I thought I'd stop by and see how you were feeling," he answered as he sat down on the couch behind her. "I haven't seen you since a few days after the shooting. How was your concert, my dear?"

"It was great. Dad got me the best seats. We weren't on the floor, but that's okay cause I probably wouldn't have been able to see all that well," she replied, moving onto the couch beside him. "Jenny got some great pictures for me and Maddie. Do you want to see them?"

"If you two are okay in here, I need to go make some phone calls," Gibbs said, knowing Kelly would be more likely to talk if she knew he wasn't in the room with her.

"We'll be fine," Ducky said, sending him a knowing look before turning back to Kelly. "I'll look at your pictures before I leave-you don't have to go get them just yet."

"Okay," she replied, looking up at him. "How's Miss Victoria?"

"She is doing well my dear," he replied, smiling at her gently. "She is looking forward to seeing you on Thanksgiving."

"Does she know I got shot?"

"Yes, but she does not want to overwhelm you right now-which is why she'll see you on Thanksgiving."

"Okay," she replied, tugging at the sleeve of her shirt.

"How have you been sleeping?"

"I keep having nightmares," she mumbled, not really meeting his gaze. "I was supposed to have gone back to school yesterday, but I skipped and went to Maddie's house. Dad talked to my principal today, and I'm out of school till I feel like I can go back in there again."

"What have your nightmares been about?"

"About the shooting, only Dad and the rest of you guys are there too," she said, looking up at him. "Last night, I dreamt that I was able to get out of the school, but they followed me home and shot Dad in the head. Then they dragged me back to the school, and everyone blamed me for the shooting cause I ran out of the school. Then the guys turned around and aimed the gun at me. I woke up before they actually shot me."

Unbeknownst to Kelly, Gibbs was leaning against the wall in the kitchen-listening to her tell Ducky about the nightmares that plagued her. His heart broke hearing the fear and anguish in his daughter's voice. It was something that he hadn't heard since Shannon's death-when Kelly used to dream of the accident. Only then the dreams were what had actually happened. She remembered hearing Shannon's low moans after the impact of the crash and Mike Franks pulling her out of the wreckage as well as seeing them laying a sheet over Shannon's body. He could only hope that with time these nightmares could disappear just like the ones from the accident had.

****NCIS****

By Thanksgiving the following week, Kelly's nightmares seemed to lessen some-but she was still going into Gibbs' room at night. He wasn't sure if it was to keep her from having the nightmares or to have him close by to make her feel safe. She would never tell him what the nightmares were about. Ducky had suggested getting her a journal to write them in-knowing it wasn't what Gibbs wanted to hear but she needed an outlet to get her feelings about the shooting out. If she wasn't comfortable talking to her dad, then she needed to write them down. Getting out of bed, she walked downstairs and was surprised to see Mike Franks standing in the living room talking to her dad.

"Hi Mike," she said, going over and hugging him carefully. She was still a little leery about moving her arm a lot, afraid that she'd make her shoulder pop like it did a couple weeks prior.

"Hey kiddo," he replied, returning her hug gently. "How are ya doing?"

"I'm fine," she replied, smiling up at him. She didn't notice her dad sighing quietly behind her, knowing she was everything BUT fine. Turning to look at Gibbs, she asked quietly, "When's Grandpa Jack getting here?"

"Probably within the next hour or so sweetie," he replied, walking into the kitchen to check on the turkey.

"Hmmm," she sighed, sitting down on the couch. "Mike, can I ask you something?"

"You can ask," he replied. "I ain't sure I'll have an answer."

"Have you ever been shot?" she asked bluntly, for once shocking the gruff man with the way she had asked her question.

"A few times," he answered, sitting down beside her.

"Did you always have nightmares after the first time?"

"I had a few," he told her honestly. It wasn't something he would go broadcasting to Gibbs or anyone at the little cantina that he liked going to in Mexico, but the young girl deserved to have an honest answer. "They went away with time."

"I'm just tired of having nightmares," she said quietly, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. "Every time I close my eyes, I keep seeing a gun pointed at me. I can't get that day out of my mind."

"Kelly, it's only been a few weeks. What happened to you was scary; all this that you're going through is normal," he explained, putting an arm over the back of the couch. "Have you talked to your dad about these nightmares?"

"He's got enough to deal with, he doesn't need me crying to him about my dreams," she mumbled, making Mike reach up and smack her lightly on the back of her head. "Hey!"

"Young lady, you know that is a load of BS," he said firmly, his expression serious. "There is nothing your dad cares more about than you. If you are having nightmares, talk to him about them."

"He knows I've had nightmares, but he just doesn't know what they all are."

"Look, I know it's apparently a Gibbs thing to not talk about your feelings, but you need to sit down with your dad and talk about this. That way, you can start moving past it and let yourself heal."

"I never took you as one to give so much advice, Mike," she giggled, smiling up at him.

"I only give advice to pretty young girls," he said, hugging her to his side. "You're family, Kelly. It may not be by blood, but you have wormed your way into this gruff old heart of mine. You've been there since you were six years old."

"Love you too, Mike," she said, hugging him back tightly.

****NCIS****

By the time Jackson Gibbs arrived, Kelly was in better spirits. Maybe she could talk to Gibbs later that night, after everyone went home. Why bum out everyone's holiday, just because she was having nightmares?

"Hi baby doll," Jackson said, hugging his granddaughter tightly. He was, needless to say, surprised by the invite for Thanksgiving. Kelly had insisted that Gibbs call to invite him, knowing that it would mean more to Jackson that the invite came from his son than from her. After filling his dad in on what happened to Kelly, he had asked him to come to Thanksgiving-but to come alone. He was trying to surround Kelly with people who loved and cared about her. He didn't need his father bringing some date to Thanksgiving.

"Hi Grandpa," she replied, staying wrapped up in his hug. To Kelly, this was the best day in the world. She had her entire family with her-including her surrogate family from NCIS. The only thing that would make the day better would be if Maddie would wake up from the coma.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better," she replied, smiling up at him. "I still have to be careful how much I move my arm-so I don't make my shoulder snap anymore like it did a week ago."

"Good," he replied, kissing the top of her head. "I brought you something."

"Peanut butter fudge?" she asked, her eyes lighting up at the thought of her favorite treat that Jackson made. She usually only got some twice a year-once in the summer, and then Jackson would send some with her Christmas presents every year.

"Yes, ma'am, it's in my bag," he answered, glad to see that she was smiling. "I'll get it before I leave for the hotel."

"Why are you staying at a hotel?"

"Sweetie, I don't think it would be a good idea for me to stay the night here," he replied, glancing up at his son.

"I want you to stay the night though."

"We'll discuss it later, Kel," Gibbs said, walking over to them.

"All right," she muttered, going into the living room to watch the beginning of the parade.

By noon, Abby had arrived and was getting acquainted with Jackson and Mike. She and Kelly had finished watching the parade together, and Abby was making plans for them to go shopping the next morning with Jenny.

"Is Jenny coming, Abbs?" Kelly asked, looking at the Goth questioningly. "I mean, I invited her and everything but she never really answered me if she was going to be here."

"She told me yesterday that she'd see me today so-" she replied, as the doorbell rang.

"Kel, will you get that?" Gibbs asked, as he was doing something in the kitchen.

"Sure," she replied, getting up and going to the door-seeing Ducky with his mother. "Hi Ducky, hi Miss Victoria."

"Hello sweetheart," Victoria Mallard said, hugging Kelly to her gently. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing better. The doctor said I have to take it easy till after New Year's but that I should be able to go back to normal activities after that."

"That's wonderful dear," she said, as Ducky helped her get her coat off. "How's Madeline?"

"Maddie's still in a coma. The doctors said she just needs to wake up; her internal injuries are healing," she replied, walking into the living room with her after giving Ducky a quick hug. "I wish she'd wake up soon. I miss my best friend."

"I'm sure she'll be fine soon," she said, patting Kelly's hand as they sat down on the couch. Looking over at Abby weirdly, she said, "Young lady, what is that black thing on your neck?"

"Uh, it's a spider web tattoo, ma'am," Abby replied, looking at Victoria weirdly, especially since she had never been formally introduced to her. She'd heard tales about her from Ducky and Kelly-so far she was living up to the reputation, Abby thought.

"Why on Earth would you get a tattoo like that for?"

"Cause I like being different."

"But a spider web?" she asked, not understanding why she would choose THAT of all things.

"Mother, leave Abigail alone," Ducky said, walking in and trying to stop her from frightening Abby. "I told you about her tattoos. Young people today like to express their individuality through body art."

"Oh yes," she said, nodding a bit.

"I'm sorry about that, Abigail-mother has the onset of dementia," he whispered.

"It's okay, Ducky," she replied, getting up and hugging him. "Happy Thanksgiving!"

"Thank you, my dear, and a Happy Thanksgiving to you lovely ladies as well."

"Thanks Ducky," Kelly replied, smiling faintly up at him before turning back to Abby. "I really don't want to get up at four in the morning to go shopping. Why can't we just go one day next week?"

"Because all the sales will be going on this weekend, and the best ones are first thing in the morning."

"Yeah, but I don't really like crowds," she said, trying to figure out how to get out of going with Abby. "Plus I don't have any money to shop-so it'd be really boring for me."

"You can not tell me that Gibbs wouldn't give you money to go Christmas shopping."

"He says I have to earn my allowance; and I haven't been able to do much since the shooting-so I'm trying to save what little bit of my allowance I have left."

"Hang on," Abby said, getting up and going into the kitchen where Gibbs was at talking to Ducky. Mike and Jackson were sitting at the table having their own discussion. "Hey Gibbs, would you give Kelly money to go Christmas shopping with me and Jenny in the morning? She seems to think that you wouldn't give her extra money, since she hasn't been able to earn an allowance since the shooting."

"Sure, if she wants to go I'll give her a little bit of money."

"Great, thanks Gibbs!" she exclaimed, hugging him quickly before bouncing back into the living room.

Before Abby could tell Kelly her 'great news,' Jenny knocked on the door. "Yay, Jenny, you made it!" she said, stopping to answer the door. "Now you can help me talk Kelly into going shopping with us in the morning."

"You know, I'll need several cups of coffee to even attempt to make it through shopping at that ungodly hour."

"See, I'm not the only one that thinks it's a horrible idea to shop at that time of day, on the busiest shopping day of the year," Kelly said, as Abby and Jenny walked into the living room.

"Well, your dad said he'd give you some money to go shopping with us," Abby said, flopping down beside Kelly. "So you have no reason NOT to go now."

"Great, I can't wait," she muttered, getting up and going upstairs to her room.

"What's the matter with her?" Abby mumbled, looking over at Jenny questioningly.

"Abby, she's been through a lot this month. Nothing is normal for her anymore, regardless of what anyone says."

****NCIS****

Thanksgiving dinner went off without a hitch. Gibbs was trying his best to get along with his father, if only for Kelly's sake. Mrs. Mallard only made a few inappropriate comments but for the most part had been pretty lucid throughout the meal. Jenny had been avoiding any situation that would potentially put her alone with Gibbs. She wasn't sure what would happen if they were alone in a room. Kelly had gotten her way-Jackson was staying the night at the house, much to her delight. Mike was also staying the night, since his flight back to Mexico wasn't until Saturday. Jenny and Abby were also staying the night, since the girls were leaving to go shopping at three in the morning.

"Come on, Kelly. We need to get going," Abby said, as Kelly was sluggishly getting her shoes on.

"I don't even want to go," she muttered, getting up and walking toward the door. "I was actually sleeping good."

"We won't be out too long, Kel," Jenny said, wrapping an arm around her gently.

"All right."

****NCIS****

By the time Abby was done going through her favorite stores-finding a few presents for people in each, it was close to nine thirty. They were walking down toward FYE, so Kelly could find Maddie some Backstreet Boys and NSYNC stuff that she did not have. When they got halfway there, Jenny and Abby saw a piece of plywood fall into a new store that would be opening after the first of the year-landing against the floor with a loud bang.

"Ahhh!" Kelly screamed, her whole body shaking in fear.

"Son of a-" Jenny started, seeing Kelly's reaction to the noise. "Kel, come on. Let's get out of here."

"What's going on?" Abby asked, as they hurriedly got out of the mall-both women trying to shield Kelly from nosy prying eyes.

"I am not sure. I believe she's suffering from PTSD," she replied, as they got outside the mall. "Stay with her, I'm going to run and get the car. Hold her to you as tight as you can. She needs to feel protected."

"Okay," she mumbled, hugging the young girl to her as she tried to calm her down.

"Daddy!" Kelly screamed, as Abby held her as tightly as she could. "I want my daddy!"

"I know, Kelly. We're going to take you home."

A few minutes later, Jenny practically flew around the parking lot, pulling up in front of where Abby and Kelly were standing. "Abbs, you think you can ride in the back with her? Or would you rather drive, and I can ride back there with her?"

"You can ride with her," she replied, having never dealt with anything like that before so she was feeling out of her element.

"Okay," she said, getting out of the car and taking Kelly from her gently. She could see that Kelly was slowly slipping into a trance again-making her worry that they would have a hard time getting her to come around. "Come on, sweetie, we need to get in the car."

Instead of saying anything, Kelly allowed Jenny to help her into the backseat. She wrapped her arms around the still terrified young girl tightly. Barely hearing anything Jenny was whispering to her, Kelly's mind flooded with images of the shooting-seeing Maddie getting shot in the stomach and her own body being hit by the bullet. Mumbling 'Daddy' repeatedly, she started fighting against Jenny's hold on her as Abby turned onto her street.

"Kelly, sweetie it's Jenny. You need to stop fighting me," she tried to reason with her, before looking up at Abby. "Go get Jethro. I'm not going to be able to get her out of the car."

"Okay," she replied, before getting out of the car and running into the house. "Gibbs! Gibbs!"

"What is it, Abby?" Gibbs asked, walking up from the basement.

"It's Kelly," she said, the sheer look of panic on her face sent his gut into overdrive. "This piece of drywall or something fell inside the mall, and it made a loud bang. Kelly's been in a trance ever since. She's screamed for you, and now she's fighting Jenny in the backseat of the car."

"Damn it," he muttered, running toward the front door as Mike and Jackson looked at Abby worriedly.

"Kelly, I'm here baby girl," Gibbs said, getting into the backseat with her. "Come here."

"Daddy," she cried, curling herself up against Gibbs, needing to feel protected.

"Shh, it's okay baby. You're not at the school anymore, you're at home and you're safe."

"You remember the other day you asked if I thought you should get her into therapy?" Jenny asked, looking at him with a worried look. "This right here-it's definitely too much for you to attempt to handle alone. She's got all the signs for PTSD."

"Yeah," he muttered, running his fingers through Kelly's hair gently. "I know."


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Thanks for the great reviews. If I didn't get to thank you through PM's know that I do love reading what you guys think of this story. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

****NCIS****

Gibbs had finally managed to get Kelly inside that morning-she had been clinging to him. Going through the motions monotonously the rest of the day, Kelly went to bed fairly early that night.

"How's Little Probie?" Mike asked, seeing Gibbs walking downstairs.

"She's asleep now," he replied, sitting down on the couch and running a tired hand over his face. "I don't know what to do, Mike."

"She's afraid you have too much going on already than to worry about her and her nightmares."

"I thought my taking time off the last couple of weeks was showing her that nothing is more important to me than her."

"Hey, I'm just telling you what she told me."

"Yeah, I know," he mumbled, looking up toward the stairs. "I just don't want her to lose that spark for life she has. She's gone through hell already-I know she made it back from that, but this is something of a whole different magnitude."

****NCIS****

The next afternoon, Jenny went out to lunch with Abby. She was spending the better part of their meal trying to convince her that Kelly was really okay.

"So, Jenny, are you seeing anyone yet?" Abby asked, finally getting convinced that Kelly was okay as she could be considering what she'd been through.

Thinking immediately of Gibbs, Jenny hardened her features-not wanting Abby to tell that she was lying. Try as she might, she could not get the memories of what she and Gibbs had done the night before the concert out of her mind. She knew that being with him would be a big risk, not only for their careers-but Kelly's feelings as well. Although it was hard to remember not wanting to jeopardize her career or protecting Kelly when she thought of his hands touching her bare skin. Swallowing the bite of her salad she had taken in order to prolong her answer, she replied. "There's a man I'm interested in, but I'm sure nothing will come from it."

"Why not?" Abby pressed, wondering what was stopping her from getting what she wanted and deserved. "He's not married, is he?"

"No, he's just very focused on his job," she said, looking up at her. "We've hung out a few times, just trying to get to know each other. I thought things would progress a little further than they have-but for right now we're both satisfied with our careers being the important part of our lives.

"Come on, Jenny, that's a load of crap."

"Abby?!" she exclaimed, shocked that the Goth had said that.

"You deserve to have a life outside of work," she said adamantly. "What happens when you're forty or fifty and look back on this time of your life and realize that you want the husband and kids to come home to?"

"Do you realize how dangerous being a federal agent is, Abby?"

"Yes, but I also realize that putting your life on hold, just because you're too caught up in your career-it will be something you regret when you get older. What happens when you live to fifty and retire? You still going to believe that load of crap you just told me?"

"I realize it, Abbs," she replied quietly, looking down at her salad-her mind drifting back to her boss. "It's just that he's older than me. He's made me feel things that I have never felt before. The way he's touched me-it's like nothing I'd ever experienced."

"Then you need to act on that Jenny," she said, taking a bite of her Chicken Caesar Salad. Catching the part where Jenny said he was older made her wonder if Kelly was right, that there were more than co-worker feelings between Gibbs and Jenny. She was happy for the silver haired fox, if he would allow himself to fall in love with his younger agent. She could only hope for Kelly's sake that it was Gibbs that Jenny was talking about-she wasn't sure how much more she could take. "Tell him how you feel, how he makes you feel. That you understand you both are concentrating on your careers, but you don't want to let the opportunity to find happiness pass you by," she said. She then added, "It's not like you're asking for a marriage proposal."

"Telling him how I feel isn't the problem," she said, shaking her head. "There are other things that would complicate a relationship between us."

"What other things?" she asked, her interest definitely piqued. She had heard that Gibbs had this rule that prevented the team from dating a co-worker, so it only made her suspect that Jenny was talking about Gibbs even more. Christmas was coming up; maybe she could stick some mistletoe above her door to the lab-make Gibbs and Jenny kiss. 'What if she's not talking about El Jefe though? What if it really is just some uptight workaholic?' she thought, trying to focus back on what Jenny was saying so she could remember all this to tell Kelly when she was doing better.

****NCIS****

Later that afternoon, Gibbs was downstairs working on his boat when the phone rang. "Yeah, Gibbs."

"Jethro, it's Melissa," Maddie's mom said when he'd answered.

"Please tell me you have good news?"

"Maddie just woke up," she replied, letting out a small sob of relief. "She doesn't remember anything from that day though. The doctors have said it's normal-she would like to see you and Kelly though."

"I'll bring Kelly by tomorrow," he replied, knowing he would need to prepare Kelly for the fact that Maddie doesn't remember the shooting. "She's not had a good couple days."

"What's wrong with her?" she asked, worrying about her like she was her own.

"I think she's suffering from PTSD," he replied. "She had a bad breakdown yesterday at the mall. A piece of drywall or something fell into a store, sounded like a gunshot and she freaked out."

Nodding her head lightly-she could understand why Kelly had freaked out. "Is she having nightmares still?"

"Uh huh, she hardly slept any last night. Jenny and Abby brought her back from the mall and she was pretty much out of it. She slept off and on throughout the night. She still won't tell me what she sees in her dreams."

"Are you going to get Kelly into therapy?"

"Yeah, I may take her to see the shrink at the Navy Yard," he said, leaning against the boat. "She's had experience dealing with men coming back from combat and suffering from PTSD."

"Did it just start all of a sudden?"

"Well, when she skipped school and went to your house, that's when this first started I think. She's had night terrors from it, but I only found out about it after she skipped school. The incident yesterday at the mall made it worse; she's upstairs watching TV with my dad right now. She hasn't said a whole helluva lot about what happened at the mall. I'm almost afraid to ask and see if she remembers it."

"Jethro, you know your daughter," she said gently. "You know what she can and can't handle. You also know that she will talk to you if she needs to. Remind her as much as you can that you are there for her. We'll get our girls through this disaster."

Nodding his head lightly, he closed his eyes before speaking, deciding to not comment on what Melissa had just said to him, but going back to Maddie. "So do the doctors say that Maddie will make a full recovery now?"

"Yes, they went ahead and took out her spleen. They had to go back in and close up another laceration on her liver-now that it's all taken care of they say she should make a complete recovery."

"I'm glad Maddie's doing better. Tell her we love her and will see her tomorrow."

"I will, Jethro. Take care of yourself and Kelly. I'll tell Maddie that you guys wanted to give her a chance to get her bearings before you come visit her," she said, leaning against the door to the room they'd moved Maddie into.

"All right, we'll see you guys tomorrow."

****NCIS****

After having lunch with Abby, Jenny was more than ready to get home and just soak in a hot bath. The bubbly Goth scientist had Jenny walking all over the place. She had insisted on going shopping for Kelly, getting her a lot of things for Christmas. Jenny grabbed a few things as well, not sure how much time in between then and Christmas she would have to shop. Getting home, she dropped her packages by the door, along with her purse and coat. She walked into the study and poured herself a tumbler of Scotch and went upstairs to start her bath. Climbing into the steaming hot bath, she allowed the water to work on the tense muscles built up in her back. Leaning her head against the tiled wall, she closed her eyes and thought about what Abby had said. 'Could she really go the rest of her life having not allowed herself to love someone completely or having a family of her own? Was this vendetta against the man she was convinced murdered her father worth putting her own life on hold? She knew her father would not approve of her sacrificing her own happiness just to catch the man responsible.' After thinking about it some more, she started visualizing what her own children would look like. Seeing a little girl with fiery red hair like hers, running around in a backyard chasing after a butterfly; a little boy with looks that mirrored his father, rolling toy trucks through a sand box. Opening her eyes, she let out a wistful sigh. Of course the man she wanted most right now was clearly not interested in her. Maybe she could just take the bull by the horn so to speak and tell him her feelings. Shaking her head of that thought, she knew that he would probably tell her that nothing could happen between them. Both times anything had happened, he was clearly not in his right mind. Why did she have to fall in love with an unattainable man? 'Wait, when did I start loving him?' she thought to herself as she took a sip of her scotch. 'Is it really that hard to believe you could love the man? You've seen how he is with his daughter, the way his hands felt on you that night at his house. You've heard of love at first sight, Jen.' Groaning a bit, she washed off and got out of the bath. Drying off, she wrapped herself up in her fluffy robe and took her hair down from the clip it was in. Walking over to her closet, she decided to go out that night. Maybe she could meet someone who would help her get her mind off Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Grabbing one of her favorite skirts and a tight green sweater, she went and got dressed, hoping for a night of fun.

****NCIS****

Gibbs was sitting in his basement thinking over everything. He was beating himself up mentally for not noticing that Kelly was struggling to deal with everything that had happened. He knew that if Shannon had still been alive, she would have helped her better than he had. Before he could beat himself up more, he heard Kelly's screams of terror and his father yelling for him. "Jethro!"

Rushing up the stairs, he ran into the living room where Kelly was sitting on the couch, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs and she was rocking back and forth. Walking over to her carefully, he knelt down in front of her. "Kel, baby what's wrong?"

Not getting an answer out of her-he saw the look in her eyes and knew she was having a flashback to that day. Looking up at his dad, he was hoping for some type of explanation.

"We were sitting here watching a football game, and she just zoned out during a commercial. There was a preview for a movie and it had guns in it; that's when she screamed," Jackson said, his heart breaking at the pain in his granddaughter's eyes.

"Kelly, it's okay. You're at home, and you are safe. I promise nothing is ever going to happen like this again."

Throwing her arms around his neck, she buried her face in his shoulder and sobbed. Pulling her into his arms, Gibbs held her like she was a little girl again, like he had after Shannon had first died. Running his fingers through her hair, he attempted to calm her down some. "Sweetie, Maddie woke up this afternoon," he whispered to her, hoping it would help her to know her best friend was better. "I told her mom we would come up tomorrow and visit. Give her a chance to get herself situated in her new room," he added, not wanting to really say that it was so Kelly could be prepared about her not remembering the shooting.

"She's going to be okay?" Kelly asked softly, her voice hoarse from screaming and crying the last couple days.

"Yes, she'll be okay," he replied, rubbing her back. "She does not remember the shooting though, the day is just completely blank to her."

"Oh," she sighed, biting her lip nervously. "Does she remember me?"

"Yes, Kel, it's just the day of the shooting she doesn't remember."

"All right, that's fine," she replied, not sure how to react to the news.

Looking at her worriedly, Gibbs knew not to push her to open up-knowing she would just shut down and possibly never tell him her feelings. Letting out a quiet sigh, he looked her in the eye. "Why don't you go wash your face, then we can go out for dinner somewhere."

"Sounds good," she replied, as she got up and walked up the stairs quietly-leaving both Gibbs and Jackson to watch her sadly.

****NCIS****

Jenny was sitting at the bar drinking a scotch on the rocks, chatting occasionally with other patrons. She was even flirting with a handsome guy, who appeared to be close to her age. "Can I get you another drink?" he asked, saddling up beside her on an empty stool.

"Sure," she responded, turning in her seat toward him and crossing her legs.

Signaling to the bartender to get Jenny another drink, the mystery man rested his hand on her knee. The band began to play, making people have to move closer together in order to hear each other talk. He leaned in close and whispered in her ear, "What's your name?"

"Jenny," she replied flirtatiously, resting her hand on his rock hard thigh. "What's yours?"

"Tony."

****NCIS****

The next morning, Jenny woke up with a massive hangover. She groaned lightly at the sun shining in through the mini blinds. 'What the hell?' she asked herself, as she quickly realized she wasn't at her home. Looking behind her, she saw the guy she'd left the bar with last night. What was his name, Tom, Terry…no it was Tony. Slipping out of his bed quietly, Jenny grabbed her clothes and walked into the bathroom to get dressed and hopefully sneak out of there before he had a chance to wake up.

Driving home less than ten minutes later, Jenny started beating herself up mentally. Sure, she had wanted to go out and have a good time, get her mind off of Gibbs-but sleeping with some random guy? 'Okay, so the sex was good, but it wasn't Jethro. That's who you really wanted it to be Jen.' she thought, as she wanted to beat her head on the steering wheel, but refrained knowing it wouldn't help her headache. "God, how stupid can I get? Why can't I get this man out of my mind? Even trying to move on-he still creeps into my thoughts!" she yelled, as there had been a couple times the night before when Jenny had imagined that it was Gibbs she was having sex with. Rolling her eyes, she knew that sneaking out of Tony's place wasn't the best idea she'd had-she just didn't want to see his look of disappointment when she said she couldn't see him any more. At least this way, she knew there was almost a slim to nothing chance that they'd ever run into each other again, so it made sneaking out a little easier.

****NCIS****

Kelly had another rough night, so much so that she'd accidentally punched Gibbs in the face when he tried to wake her up. So now they were both awake and sitting in the living room-Kelly eating a bowl of cereal, or pushing it around in the bowl mostly, while Gibbs had his morning coffee.

"Morning you two," Jackson said as he walked into the room. Getting a look at Gibbs' face, he was more or less shocked by what he saw. "What happened to your eye?"

"I punched him in the face," Kelly muttered, and at any other time Gibbs knew that a comment like that would have made Jackson look appalled but he had heard her nightmares, so he wasn't all that surprised.

"So we decided to get up and have breakfast, before going out to the hospital to see Maddie," Gibbs said, giving Jackson a look that said to let the conversation drop.

"You going to take Maddie her stuff from your concert you went to?" Jackson asked, sitting down beside Kelly.

Nodding her head lightly, she set the soggy bowl of cereal on the coffee table. "Hopefully she's not too upset that I had Jenny go."

"Sweetie, she would have wanted you to take someone to have fun with," he said, hugging her to him. "You've said yourself your daddy doesn't know anything about the band or their songs."

"Yeah."

"Did you have fun with Jenny?" he questioned, lifting her chin up so he could look her in the eye.

"Yes," she replied softly. "Especially when she teased Daddy for driving crazy."

"Then Maddie's not going to be mad at you for having Jenny go with you instead."

Gibbs sat there listening to his dad trying to make Kelly feel better. He knew that today would be rough on her, as neither one really knew what to expect when they got to the hospital to see Maddie. Sure, they had seen her when she was unconscious, but now that she was awake and aware of what happened, he could only hope and pray that both girls came back from this tragedy somewhat normal. "Kel, go get ready and we'll head on up to the hospital now."

"All right," she replied, getting up and walking upstairs.

"Jack, you going to still be here when we get back?" Gibbs asked, knowing things were still tense between the two of them, but he knew it would help having him here for Kelly's sake.

"I can stay as long as you want me to Leroy," he replied, knowing they still had a lot to go through with Kelly.

"Okay, I need to go get ready."

Almost an hour later, Gibbs and Kelly were walking down the hallway looking for Maddie's room. Kelly had brought her notebook that she'd been writing letters to Maddie in since the shooting, keeping her caught up on everything. She also had the T-shirt of Nick Carter from the concert they went to, as well as all the pictures that Jenny had taken organized in an album for her. Finding the right room, Gibbs knocked lightly before opening the door and letting them inside.

"Hey Maddie," Kelly said quietly, walking over to the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore," she replied, looking over at her before asking, "How's your shoulder?"

"It's better; it still gets sore sometimes but I don't have to wear the stupid sling anymore," she answered, sitting down in the chair her mom had vacated. "I thought you didn't remember the shooting?"

"I don't. Mom told me that you were shot in the shoulder when I asked if you were okay."

Nodding her head lightly, she handed her the presents. "I wrote you letters every day to keep you updated on everything going on," she said, giving her a look that went unnoticed by the adults in the room. "We also got you a T-shirt at the concert, and Jenny went in your place but she took a lot of pictures of Nick for you."

"Cool, thanks."

"When can you go home?"

"The doctor thinks I should be able to go home by Friday at the earliest," she replied quietly. "If there aren't any more setbacks, and they don't have to go operate anymore."

"Cool, there's supposed to be a Backstreet Boys concert on Disney Channel next weekend, it's from the tour that I saw," she replied. "Maybe if you're home, I can come over and we can watch it together. It'll be like we were really there together."

"Sounds like fun."

While Kelly and Maddie continued talking, Gibbs looked over at Maddie's parents. "I've actually missed hearing them talk about Backstreet Boys constantly," he chuckled, surprised he was actually admitting that.

"I know what you mean. It's been quiet at the house whenever one of us goes home for the night," Joe Tyler chuckled, looking back at the two girls.

"We're just ready for this nightmare to end, like I'm sure you are," Melissa said, having remembered her conversation with him the day before.

"I think we're all more than ready," he answered, knowing that another part of Kelly's childhood had been ripped away from her. What worried him most-he didn't know if she would ever be able to get it back.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Updates to this may not be as regular as they have been. I haven't had a lot of time lately to write, so I don't have any chapters already pre-written. Same goes with In Your Arms. However, I am hoping to maybe find some time this weekend to do some. So basically if this story isn't updated on Friday mornings for awhile, bare with me while I try and get caught back up with writing. Also thanks for all the reviews and taking this story to over 100 reviews. They all really mean a lot.

****NCIS****

By Monday, Kelly still wasn't doing much better with her nightmares. Gibbs had decided to take her to NCIS to see Ducky. Then, if he had to, he'd make an appointment for her to speak with Dr. Moore, the psychiatrist who helped Navy and Marines returning from different operations. Gibbs knew that the doctor had dealt with PTSD patients before. She had diagnosed him with it when he returned from the Gulf and his mission down in Columbia. He had been dealing with his own nightmares.

"Why are you taking me to NCIS?" Kelly asked, looking over at Gibbs as he drove them toward the base.

"I want Ducky to take a look at you; plus I need to talk to Director Morrow about something."

Nodding her head lightly, she turned to look back out the window before asking softly, "Are Jenny and Abby mad at me?"

"No, Kel," he said, looking at her strangely. Surely she had to know both of them well enough to realize that neither would care that she hadn't been able to finish shopping or that they had to leave the mall because of her. He wanted to understand. "Why on earth would you think they were mad?"

"Jenny hasn't called at all since Friday," she replied softly. "Usually she calls just to say hi even."

"I promise, they're not mad. They have no reason to be mad at you."

"All right," she mumbled as she went back to staring out the window.

Arriving at NCIS a little bit later, they walked inside. Getting in the elevator, Kelly felt herself starting to panic. Sure, her dad said that Jenny and Abby weren't mad at her, but what if they looked at her like she was some weak child? Her dad is a federal agent and a former Marine. She had no real reason to be getting scared like she was. Getting out on the floor for the squad room, Gibbs wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her over to the bullpen.

"Hey Kelly," Will said, looking up and seeing his boss and daughter walking up to them. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. I still have to take it easy with my shoulder. By the new year, the doctor thinks I should be able to do everything again."

"Where are Shepard and Burley?" Gibbs asked, looking around and seeing they were missing.

"Shepard is down talking to Abby, and Burley is out getting coffee," he replied, lifting up a case file. "I need to take this to the Director. Kelly, keep giving your dad a hard time. He needs to feel like he's at work even if he's not."

"I will, Decker," she replied, smiling at him faintly.

"Come on, Kel. Let's get you down to see Ducky."

Sighing softly, she nodded her head and followed him toward the back elevators.

****NCIS****

Jenny was in Abby's lab telling her about the one-night stand she'd had a couple nights before, surprising the scientist immensely.

"I thought you had feelings for that older guy you liked?" she asked, unable to hide the shock from her voice.

"It's hard to have a relationship with someone when they aren't very clear what they want. I mean, it didn't help get my mind off the guy like I was hoping it would. That was my intention Saturday night, to go out and possibly forget about him. I mean, it's obvious he doesn't want a relationship with me-why should I spend my time pining over him?"

"So why not give the guy from Saturday a chance?" she questioned, unsure how she was going to be able to help Kelly when it was clear that Jenny had no feelings toward Gibbs. Well, none that she was aware of at least.

"I don't know what I want Abby," Jenny replied softly, neither one aware that a certain silver haired fox was standing outside the lab and was listening. "I just wish he'd stop giving me mixed signals. Either say he wants a relationship or just leave me alone. I'm tired of thinking we're crossing the forbidden barrier only to be shoved away like I've got some sort of plague."

"Do you want to go out this weekend? Maybe we can take Kelly to the spa thing you got her for her birthday," Abby suggested, hating to see Jenny so torn up about what she so clearly wanted in her life, even if she denied it. "I think it'd do you both some good to have a day of pampering. Then we can go see a movie or something."

"Sure, that sounds good."

"Great, just let me know what time to go on Saturday and I'll be ready."

Nodding her head, Jenny turned to leave the lab. She was startled a bit when she ran smack into Gibbs' broad chest. "Hello Jethro," she said, her silky alto voice doing crazy things to his mind. "I thought you weren't back until the first of the year?"

"I'm not. I had to talk to the Director; also wanted Ducky to talk to Kelly."

"How's she doing?" she asked worriedly. With everything that happened Saturday, and then waking up the day before in some random guy's bedroom-she hadn't thought about calling to check on her since Saturday morning.

"She's still having nightmares, she hasn't slept the whole night since she stopped taking her pain pills," he replied quietly, running a hand over his tired face. "She thinks you and Abs are mad at her for Friday."

"Did you set her straight?" She couldn't help but ask, wanting to smack herself when she saw the look on his face. "Sorry, stupid question."

"We went and saw Maddie yesterday," he said, as they got onto the elevator. "She woke up Saturday. They said she should make a full recovery and may even be able to go home by the end of the week."

"That's great news! Hopefully once Kelly sees Maddie is home, maybe things might start to calm down for you guys."

Looking at her intently, Gibbs let everything he heard outside Abby's lab process in his mind. Could she have actually been talking about him? He had thought for sure that she didn't want anything with him.

"What are you looking at?" she asked, feeling a little unnerved by his staring. 'Those damn eyes are so haunting. It's almost like he can look into my soul,' she thought to herself as they got out on the floor for autopsy.

"Nothing," he mumbled as he followed her into the room. Kelly's back was to them, but Ducky had seen them walk in.

"Jethro, Jennifer," he greeted, as Kelly turned and looked at them.

"Hi Daddy," she said, getting up and going over to hug him. "Hi Jenny."

"Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?" Jenny asked, running a hand over Kelly's head gently.

"A little better. I've been talking to Ducky."

"Yeah, Ducky's a good listener, isn't he?" she chuckled, as Kelly moved over to hug her. "I hear Maddie is awake now."

"Yeah, we went and saw her yesterday. She loves the pictures you took of Nick for her. She said to tell you thanks."

"Well tell her she is quite welcome," Jenny replied, seeing Ducky and Gibbs off to the side talking, no doubt about Ducky's 'findings' on Kelly's PTSD.

Gibbs was leaning against the freezers, listening to what Ducky was telling him. "Jethro, while she IS doing better, do not be surprised if her nightmares continue for a while. They won't just magically go away as you well know. I do agree that Maddie coming out of her coma had to have helped her a lot. Did you take Kelly to any of the funerals for her classmates or other kids in the school?"

"She said she didn't want to go. I didn't want to force it on her," he replied, shaking his head. "I mean, she hasn't been to a funeral since Shannon's. I didn't know what kind of reaction she would have."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she's having a bit of survivors guilt as well," Ducky said, looking over and seeing Jenny keeping Kelly entertained. "She watched her best friend get shot, and Kelly was physically injured far less. It's enough to make even the toughest of minds go crazy."

"Thanks Duck," he said, letting his words absorb in his mind.

****NCIS****

By Saturday, Kelly's nightmares had lessened and she was actually looking forward to going out with Jenny and Abby again-using her birthday gift certificate.

"So do you know how you want to get your hair done?" Jenny asked, as she drove them toward the spa.

"I want to get it cut to my shoulders, then have layers put in it," Kelly replied, as Abby was fiddling with the radio stations. "Jenny, I know you want to keep your car pretty much like it was when you bought it, but could you at least consider putting a cassette player in here even?"

"Yeah, Jenny. Radio is only good for so long. Then you get to hear the same tireless commercials," Abby piped in, figuring she could help Kelly's cause with that much at least.

"Kel, it loses its value when you make changes to it like that," Jenny replied with a chuckle.

"All right," she grumbled playfully, sitting back in her seat. "Maddie got to go home yesterday."

"Did she? That's great, sweetie. Did you go over yesterday and see her?" Jenny asked, as Abby seemed to be holding her breath wondering if Kelly was going to have a flashback or anything.

"Yeah, we went over and had dinner with them," she replied, looking out the window. "She still gets tired easy, so we didn't stay too late. Just long enough to watch the Backstreet Boys concert on Disney. It's the tour that we saw, just not the actual concert we were at."

"Well that's good she got to see it at least."

"Yeah, Daddy cringed when we turned it on," she giggled, as Jenny pulled into the salon parking lot. "He said next time he'll just buy me concert tickets and someone else can take me. Too many screaming girls near him."

"Among other things," Jenny chuckled, as they got out of the car and walked into the salon.

A few hours later, Jenny and Abby were done getting their hair and, in Jenny's case, nails done. They were waiting for Kelly to emerge from the room her stylist had led her into. When the young girl walked out, Jenny's mouth dropped. "Kelly, you look beautiful."

"Thanks," she mumbled shyly. She had gotten her hair cut and styled to just below her shoulders and had added some layers in it. The stylist had thrown in some highlights as well, bringing out some of the red tint she had inherited from Shannon. The gift certificate that Jenny had gotten her included a makeover as well as a mani/pedi combo.

"Yeah, Kel, your dad is definitely going to want to lock you up till you're thirty now," Abby said, smiling at her friend.

"I look like my mom even more now," Kelly said, looking over at Abby. "I have this picture of her from my ballet recital before she died. Her hair was about the length mine is now, just her hair was all red. Mine's not."

"Well then I bet she was beautiful as well," she replied, wrapping an arm around her shoulders lightly. "What do you say we go and get you a new outfit and grab some lunch?"

Nodding her head, the girls left the salon after Jenny had paid and left a nice tip for her and Kelly's stylists. Heading over toward Kohl's, Jenny wasn't about to risk taking Kelly back to the mall. She was pretty certain that Gibbs would kill her if she did, and potentially making Kelly's PTSD worse again. Walking over to the juniors section, Kelly found a new pair of jeans and a dark purple long-sleeved turtleneck sweater. Letting Abby pull her over to the jewelry counter, Kelly found a pair of small silver hoop earrings she liked. Knowing she had enough shoes, she managed to talk Abby out of dragging her over there, as Jenny chuckled at them.

"Abs, you know I just got a bunch of shoes for school this year and last winter, right?" Kelly asked, as the bubbly Goth was still adamant she needed a new pair of boots. "Dad will be mad if I come home with more shoes. He already says if I keep shopping like I do, by the time I'm sixteen, he'll have lost his closet to me as well. I have too many clothes and shoes as it is."

"All right, I don't want el Jefe to be mad at you," she replied, as they headed toward a cashier to pay.

"Thanks for all this though, you guys," she said, looking at Jenny and Abby gratefully.

"It's our pleasure sweetie," Jenny replied, taking out her credit card to pay but Abby beat her to it.

"The outfit is my treat," she explained, looking over at the federal agent she had come to consider a close friend. "You bought Kelly the salon trip, the outfit can be from me."

"Sounds like a deal," Jenny chuckled, as they paid and headed over to Ruby Tuesday's.

****NCIS****

After a filling lunch, Jenny dropped Abby off at her apartment before taking Kelly back home. "Did you have fun today, Kel?"

Looking at the window absently, she nodded in reply. "Yeah, it was nice to not think about the shooting or all that stuff today."

Jenny smiled at her lightly, as she let herself wonder just how much of this PTSD Kelly was still suffering through. She knew that Kelly was stubborn. She'd seen that much the night of the Stephanie fiasco, then again with her skipping school. Not wanting to upset her, she kept on driving, making a mental note to talk to Gibbs. She wanted to let him know that Kelly may be trying to put on a brave front and act like she was better, because that's what she feels is expected of her now. Pulling up in the driveway behind his truck, Jenny and Kelly got out and went inside.

"Dad, we're back!" Kelly called, not sure where in the house her dad was.

"Hey sweetie, did you have a…" Gibbs trailed off, as he walked in from the basement and saw the changes Kelly had made.

"Daddy, you okay?" she asked, as she took her coat off and hung it up beside the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he mumbled lightly. Jenny was watching him, pretty sure of why he was reacting the way he was. "You look so much like your mom right now."

"Thanks," she replied, smiling at him faintly. "The lady that did my hair said that the highlights were included with the gift certificate that Jenny got me. Said I didn't have to get them, but I wanted to get something different done. Apparently adding a little bit of blonde makes my hair turn a little bit redder."

"Well, it looks beautiful," he replied, hugging her to him gently. "Did you thank Jenny for doing this for you?"

"Thanks Jenny. I really had a good time today," she said, looking up at her. "I need to go take my outfit upstairs and call Maddie to see if she feels like having company today."

"All right," Jenny replied, hugging Kelly quickly before she went upstairs to her room.

Looking at his agent questioningly, Gibbs waited till he heard Kelly's bedroom door shut before talking. "How did she do today?"

"She was fine. She didn't have any breakdowns or anything," Jenny replied, looking toward the stairs before looking him in the eye. "Abby suggested going to get her a new outfit. I thought she might break down then, but she didn't. I decided to just go to Kohl's and not attempt to go back into the mall."

"Thanks for doing all this for her Jenny," he told her sincerely, letting her see just how much Gibbs loves Kelly and would do just about anything to make her smile. "Hopefully this will help her feel better about herself again-Lord knows I've tried just about everything."

"Well, I don't want to say she's completely better or anything, but she's definitely coming around."

Nodding lightly, Gibbs watched as Jenny grabbed her purse and turned toward the door to leave. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he wondered if things between him and Jenny would ever work out. He knew already that Kelly adored her and could easily tell the feeling was mutual. Letting his mind wrap around what he had heard earlier in the week, he watched as Jenny got in her car. He couldn't help but think that he may have lost his last shot at being with Jenny. Sure, she had said she wanted to forget about him, but she would give him a chance if she knew he was serious, wouldn't she?


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Thanks to everyone for their patience. Hopefully I can get back on track with updating this story. I'm still trying to find a new job, so it does make updating a little difficult.

****NCIS****

Christmas morning, Kelly woke up in her own room-making her smile a bit as she hadn't had any nightmares and ended up in her father's room with him. Walking downstairs, she saw her grandpa, who had come back down for Christmas after going back up to Stillwater to check on the store and to get Kelly's Christmas presents. He was sitting with Gibbs in front of the Christmas tree. Gibbs had been lost in his thoughts, staring at the ornament of Shannon and Kelly that he had gotten his wife for her last Christmas. It was gold and had a picture of Shannon and Kelly from the winter carnival at Kelly's school imposed on the front. He knew how special the ornament was to Kelly now, especially as she was getting older-her memories of Shannon seeming to disappear with time. He knew there were things she would remember always, but it was the little moments that were fading away.

"Merry Christmas," she said, going over and hugging Jackson first before hugging her dad.

"Merry Christmas sweetheart," Jackson replied, kissing the top of her head as she sat down beside him.

"You ready to open your presents, or do you want breakfast first?" Gibbs asked, smiling at her gently. He noticed that she seemed to be slowly returning to her old self. He was going to attempt to send her back to school after the first of the year and could only hope that seeing the outside of the school again wouldn't trigger a PTSD relapse.

"Presents first," she replied, smiling up at him. "I'm hoping that big box, that has my name on it, is the new stereo I asked for."

"All right, we'll do presents first," he chuckled, as they got situated while he handed out the presents-leaving the big box beside the fire place until last.

By the time they were done opening presents, Kelly had gotten a few gift cards for the stores she liked in the mall, some new CDs, some more peanut butter fudge from Jackson's store, a few movies and books that she had wanted as well as some 'boy band' stuff that she did not have from Jenny. She also received a black long sleeve shirt and matching fleece jacket with a skull and crossbones from Abby, with cute pink bows on top of the skull. Kelly realized she needed to explain Abby's gift-that she had said she'd liked Abby's shirt so the Goth got her one that matched. Finally, Kelly got to open the big present that had been alluding her since she woke up. Tearing the wrapping paper off, she saw the front of the box and let out an excited squeal. "It's my stereo!"

"Did you really doubt it after you saw the box?" Gibbs asked, laughing lightly at her reaction. He was just glad to see her happy and smiling again that he almost didn't care that it was something so little as getting a stereo to make her smile like that again.

"Not really," she replied, leaning over and hugging him tightly. "Now if I could just get you to get me my own computer, we'd be doing great."

"Don't push it Kel," he said, kissing the side of her head. "I'll take your stereo up to your room for you after breakfast."

"Okay, that's fine," she said, as she grabbed one of her books. She settled into the couch beside Jackson to start reading, while she waited for Gibbs to finish making their chocolate chip pancake breakfast.

****NCIS****

When New Year's Eve rolled around, Kelly was spending the night with Maddie, which was their yearly tradition since they were seven years old. Of course, they would stay at Kelly's while Maddie's parents would go out to some party, because Kelly didn't want to leave Gibbs alone to ring in the New Year. The only reason why it was going to be at Maddie's was because she still had to take it easy and her bandages needed changing-so her parents were staying home this year.

After he dropped Kelly off at the Tyler house, Gibbs decided to pay Jenny a visit. He hoped she was at home, cause he had a few questions he wanted answered. The day before, he'd received a call from the director, informing him that when the team came back after the holiday, Jenny would be taking a leave of absence. He didn't specify for how long, or if it was a permanent thing, so he wanted to get some answers from her. The conversation he'd overheard her have with Abby still playing in his mind. If it was him that she was talking about, he didn't understand why she didn't just come out and say she wanted to be with him. He had thought the moment between them on his couch could have been continued when he came back downstairs. To his shock and dismay, he had found that Jenny was gone, leading him to believe that she wasn't comfortable with the situation. Arriving at the brownstone, he got out of the car and walked up to the door-knocking on it impatiently.

Jenny was sitting in her living room, staring seemingly into space. She was thinking over her decision to take a leave of absence from NCIS. 'Would that really clear my mind of Jethro?' she thought to herself as she was replaying everything over again in her mind. Going over to his house the day after Christmas so Kelly could show her everything she'd gotten, Jenny had felt his eyes on her the entire time. She had only hoped that this leave of absence would help her shake him from her mind. Of course that theory was shot to hell when she heard the incessant banging on her front door. Knowing only one person who would knock like that, her heart skipped a beat. Setting down her glass of Scotch, she got up from the couch and walked over to the door.

"Jethro, what are you doing here?" she asked as she answered the door, her surprise apparent. There was just something about the man that constantly took her breath away. She wasn't sure if it was the cobalt blue eyes-eyes that seemed to look deep into her soul, or if it was the reminder of the passion his hands and mouth ignited within her.

"Well I got this strange call from the director yesterday telling me that one of my best agents was taking a leave of absence after the first of the year," he said, walking into the house and standing in the foyer. "Call me crazy, but I wanted to come over and see if you were planning on coming back to the team at all."

"I'll come back eventually," she said, rolling her eyes at him. "I just need a break from work for a few weeks or so."

"Why?" he asked, walking closer to her-inevitably forcing her to back up.

Leaning against the banister, she looked up at him-trying not to stare into his intense blue eyes and get lost. She needed to keep her wits about her and being this close to him, smelling the intoxicating scent that is all Gibbs, she rattled off what she hoped was some believable BS. "I need to get my head on straight. Right now, I'd be a hindrance to the team."

Staring at her intently, he noticed that her right eye was twitching a bit-making him file that for another day, wondering if it was a sign of a lie she was trying to tell. "Does this have anything to do with the guy you are trying to forget about, or the guy that you went home with from the bar that night?" he asked, making her pale instantly at his question.

"How do you know about that?"

"I overheard you and Abby talking in the lab," he replied, trying to read her reaction before smirking at her with his next question. "Who's the older guy you like?"

Masking her emotions, she was trying hard not to let Gibbs see how the question affected her. "Jethro, I never saw you as someone that took pleasure in sticking their nose into someone's personal life," she said as she pushed herself away from the banister and walked back into her living room.

"I don't, but when I have a hunch that the guy you were talking to Abby about is me, well, it makes one tend to notice things like that," he replied, following her closely.

Her back to him, she was trying to will herself to keep her composure-being that close, with him trying to call her out on her feelings. She wasn't sure how much more she could take. What would it hurt by taking a chance and kissing him? 'You know what it would hurt, Jenny. You've kissed this man twice now. Both times you were left alone-you need to stop doing this to yourself,' she thought bitterly. "You are so full of yourself. I was not talking about you," she told him, adding a disbelieving laugh to her voice.

"Why don't you look me in the eye and tell me that?" he questioned, as he moved up right behind her, putting her back right against his chest-his warm breath tickling her neck.

"Jethro," she mumbled breathily. As she turned around, her body pressed up against him. Deciding not to listen to the little voice in the back of her mind telling her this was a bad idea, she pulled his head down to hers and kissed him. The months of built up sexual tension and passion finally bubbled over inside her as she tangled her fingers in his hair.

He looked at her carefully after they broke apart for a moment. "Jen, are you sure this is what you want?" Gibbs asked, not wanting to make her do something she wasn't entirely sure of.

"Jethro, this whole time it has been you. I have tried to get you out of my mind. Then you kissed me that day at the hospital after the doctor said Kelly would be okay. That whole night sitting in your living room, looking over those cold case files. You make it difficult for someone to be able to read your facial expressions," she said, still trying to regulate her breathing from the searing kiss they had just shared. "I thought you were upset by what happened-that the 'make out session' wasn't what you wanted. I have tried so hard to get you out of my mind this last month, but I couldn't be away from Kelly. Regardless of my feelings toward you, no matter how much I try to ignore them, I would never want to hurt your daughter. So basically just tell me now, do you want there to be something more between us? If you don't, then please leave so I can try to get you out of my mind. I still want to be there for Kelly, but I don't think it'd be in our best…."

"Jenny," Gibbs growled, interrupting her rambling. He grabbed her around her lithe waist, pulling her tighter to him. He knew she was nervous. Reaching up and tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear, he leaned in and kissed her again. Moving his hands in between their bodies, he managed to unbutton the tan cardigan sweater she wore and pushed it off her shoulders. Picking her up in his arms, he carried her upstairs to her room. Neither one had the strength or desire to break from the kiss. Getting into her room, he kicked the door shut behind them before placing her down in front of him again. Running his hands all over her body, he felt her fingers pushing at the sport coat he had on. Pulling her shirt out from where it was tucked neatly into her jeans, he slid it up her body, and tossed it aimlessly across the room. He pushed her back onto the bed and pulled his own shirt off before climbing on top of her. Their lips locked in a heated, passionate and frenzied kiss-neither one caring about the forbidden line they were about to cross. Jenny's nails dancing across his back brought him back into the moment. He reached up and undid the front clasp of her bra before he started sliding the straps down from her shoulders slowly. Kissing across her collarbone and the hollow of her neck, he smirked to himself when he felt her chest arching up to his touch.

Once they had rid themselves of their clothes, neither agent was too concerned about taking things slow. Jenny was almost certain this would happen again and again and again-well if she had her way. It would be impossible to just go back to Gibbs being only her boss. Sure, she would stay with NCIS and on his team, but she wanted more. She was certain he felt the same way as he moved on top of her. "God Jethro, don't tease me," she grumbled, leaning up and kissing him deeply as she tangled her fingers in his hair-tugging on it lightly.

"Oh I won't," he muttered, as he slid inside her-causing her legs to wrap around his waist tightly. Both moaned deeply at the contact. As he moved in and out of her, taking long deliberate strokes, there was only one thing on his mind. He wanted to hear her scream out his name. This was the culmination of a fantasy they both had numerous times-he was determined to make sure that she never forgot this night.

"Jethro!" she cried out, tangling her fingers in his hair. She pulled his head down to hers, meeting his lips in a passion-filled kiss. She felt like her body was on fire as they both reached an explosive release. Their lovemaking was like nothing she had ever felt before.

****NCIS****

By the time midnight finally rolled around, both Kelly and Maddie were hyped up from the soda and candy they were pigging out on all night. They were downstairs in the basement watching movies on the big screen TV the Tylers had down there for the kids.

"Are you going to call and wish your dad a happy new year?" Maddie asked as Kelly got up to put in a new movie.

"I guess I could. He said he was going to work on the boat when he got back from dropping me off here," she replied with a shrug, putting "The Rugrats Movie" into the VCR.

"It's weird being at home this year," Maddie said, handing Kelly the phone once she sat back down. "I mean, for as long as I can remember, we've worked on the boat with your dad on New Year's and would make s'mores in the fireplace before the ball dropped. The shooting had to change all that."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Dad keeps asking me if I think I'm ready to go back to school on Tuesday," she said, picking at the buttons on the phone. "How am I supposed to know if I'm ready to go back to school or not? I didn't think I was scared when I tried to go back before, not until I saw the building at least."

Nodding her head in agreement, Maddie sat there staring at the bandage that still covered the wound to her thigh. Neither girl was comfortable talking about that day with each other. Maddie's mind was still blocking out a large portion of the day while Kelly didn't want to say anything to upset her friend. There was still the unanswered question of whether Maddie would have flashbacks once she walked back into the school. It would still be a few weeks before she was cleared to return-though she was definitely not looking forward to it.

"I better call my dad before we start the movie," Kelly mumbled, dialing the number to her house. Not getting an answer, she dialed his cell phone number and waited semi-patiently for an answer.

****NCIS****

Gibbs was lying in Jenny's bed, his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Her body was lying against his, both of them still coming down from the high they were on. Running his fingers through her long red hair, he felt her breathing evening out-indicating that she had fallen asleep. He was just about to join her, when the shrill sound of his phone ringing brought him back to reality. Reaching for his discarded jeans, he pulled his phone out of the pocket and answered. "Yeah, Gibbs."

"Happy New Year, Dad," Kelly said cheerfully as she grabbed a handful of M&M's from the bowl between her and Maddie.

"Happy New Year, G-Man," Maddie called out, making Gibbs shake his head lightly in amusement.

"Same to you girls," he replied, trying to keep his voice quiet enough that he wouldn't wake Jenny but without alerting Kelly that he wasn't at home.

"Okay, well we're going to watch "The Rugrats Movie" now. See you later when I come home," she said, before saying goodbye and hanging up.

Once Gibbs had hung up and put his phone on the nightstand, he felt Jenny starting to stir a bit. "Hmm, this wasn't a dream," she mumbled, her eyes fluttering open as she started to wake up.

"Do you regret it?" he asked as she pulled back to look him in the eye.

Moving her body on top of his, she stared down into his eyes-a feeling of lust coming over her. "The only thing I regret, Jethro, is that this didn't happen sooner," she replied, leaning in and kissing him softly.

Returning her kiss with as much passion and desire, Gibbs let his hands roam up her sides, cupping her breasts gently. He felt her running her soft hands up his arms, and threading her fingers through his, as she moved to pin his arms down by his head. Breaking away from the kiss, he stared intently into her eyes before speaking. "If we let this go further than tonight, we need to watch how we act around each other at work. The last thing I want to see happen is Decker and Burley giving you a hard time about sleeping with the boss."

Nodding her head lightly, she leaned down and pecked his lips before asking, "So what we did tonight, is that considered 'red light behavior?'"

Laughing at her mocking of the sexual harassment instructor, he took the opportunity to flip her over putting him back on top. "Oh yeah," he replied with a faint chuckle as he leaned in and kissed her. They continued making love the rest of the night.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait on an update for this. I have been lacking any real motivation to get this done. Now that the holidays are almost over, and it appears we are having an actual winter where I live, I will be able to work on this some more. Snow and cold do not get along with me, so I am quite content to just stay inside and write. Also a big shout-out to JibbsGal1 for helping me with this chapter, and being my sounding board for so much frustration on my part for this chapter.

A/N 2: I feel like this should be said here in this story and in its own A/N. My prayers, thoughts and heart go out to the families of Newtown CT. I can't even begin to imagine the pain of going through what they are. God Bless those 20 beautiful children who lost their lives that day and the 6 educators who gave the ultimate sacrifice in trying to save them.

****NCIS****

Jenny thought she was the first to wake up the next morning. She thought she was cuddled up against Gibbs' side; however when she opened her eyes, she was a little startled to find that she was holding onto a pillow. Racking her brain, she tried to remember if the whole night had been a dream. She knew she hadn't had that much Scotch to drink before he came pounding on the front door. Just as she was letting it process in her mind that the whole night had been a cruel dream, she caught a whiff of coffee brewing downstairs. Getting out of bed, she grabbed her green silk robe from the chair and put it on before heading downstairs. Once she made it to the kitchen, she was a little surprised to see Gibbs standing there, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Jethro, what are you still doing here?" she asked, unable to stop the sound of shock in her voice.

"Did you want me gone?" he teased as she padded over and took the coffee mug he was holding out to her.

Shaking her head lightly, she leaned against the counter and looked up at him. "Do you regret last night?"

"Not a bit," he replied, taking a drink of his coffee.

"Good, me neither," she said, before asking her next question. "Are you going to tell Kelly about us?"

Smirking at her a bit, he shook his head and chuckled, "Don't you think it'll be obvious?

"All right," she smiled, taking her cup of coffee and going to sit at the table. Shaking her head lightly, she knew that Kelly's reaction could go one of two ways. She could either be really happy about this or be insanely jealous and not want to see anyone trying to take her mother's place.

Going over to where she was sitting, he grabbed her hand in his and pulled her up. Moving to sit down in her seat, he tugged her gently down onto his lap, securing her there when he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Jen, she will be fine. She's crazy about you," he said, leaning in and pecking her lips.

"Yeah but," she started, when he placed his finger over her lips to silence her.

"No buts, she will be fine," he said, daring her to interrupt again.

Looking at him pointedly, she moved his finger off her lips. "What are we going to do about work?" she questioned, resting her arm around his shoulders as she absently started playing with his hair. "I'm willing to transfer to another team if you want me to."

"There is no need for you to transfer, Jen," he grumbled lightly. "We just won't let Burley or Decker know about us."

"Okay," she replied softly, as she decided to not mention any more about the complications of them being together affecting their work.

****NCIS****

After spending the rest of the morning talking and getting a promise from Jenny to come over later on for dinner with him and Kelly, Gibbs headed back to his house to wait for Kelly to come home. He had listened to Jenny's concerns about Kelly's reaction, but he had tried to convince her that it was just Diane whom she didn't like. She had gotten along great with his first ex, Lauren. There had just been something about Diane that had rubbed the intuitive teenager the wrong way.

He'd spent the better part of an hour down in the basement working on the boat, thinking about everything that had happened. 'Had he really intended to sleep with her when he went over to her house? Could he handle potential life threatening situations involving Jenny now? Before she was just a team member, another agent. He wouldn't want to lose her regardless, but now that they were whatever they were-nothing had really been said out loud-could he handle those situations rationally?'

There was a small part inside of him that knew he was treading quickly into territory that he hadn't been in since he first met Shannon. He was getting those same feelings he felt all those years ago, every time he thought about or saw Jenny in the same room. Before more thoughts popped into his head, he heard the front door open.

"Dad, are you home?!" Kelly called out, walking into the living room.

"Hey sweetie," he replied, coming out of the kitchen with a beer. "Did you have fun at Maddie's last night?"

Taking her coat off and tossing it onto the chair, she walked over and hugged Gibbs before sitting down on the couch. "Yeah, we stayed up till almost two watching movies and the ball drop."

"How did you sleep?" he questioned, as this had been the first time she'd been away from home since he found out about her nightmares. He also had made sure not to turn his phone down in case she called, but she hadn't other than the call before midnight.

"I slept okay I guess," she shrugged, tugging on the end of her shirtsleeve lightly. "I only had one nightmare, but I really don't remember it-like it's all fuzzy to me now."

Sitting down beside her on the couch, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders lightly. "Do you still want to try and go back to school Tuesday?"

"Guess I need to go back sometime, huh?"

Kissing the top of her head gently, he whispered, "If you don't feel like you can do it, I'm not going to force you. The teachers understand that all of you guys have gone through something horrendous, that it will take time for all of you to heal. Some of you have both the mental and physical scars from that day. Yes, your shoulder is healed and you can do things like normal again. The mental is something that will be worked on as the days go on. If you don't want to go though, I will have to take you to NCIS because Maddie has several doctor appointments that day."

"Can I try and if I don't think I can handle it, you can take me to NCIS with you?" She asked, her stomach tying up in knots at the thought of being back in the school.

"Yeah, I won't leave unless you feel that you can handle it."

Smiling at him faintly she nodded her head, "Good."

Turning to look her in the eye, he hoped his news might cheer her up. "Kel, I need to talk to you about something."

"What? Are you going away?" she asked, wondering if he was being sent on an undercover op somewhere.

"No, it's nothing like that. I need to talk to you about Jenny," he said, smiling at her gently so she would know it wasn't anything horrible.

"What is it?"

"Well, Jenny and I are dating now," he said, not wanting to sugarcoat things-especially considering how much Kelly likes Jenny.

"Really?" she asked, her eyes lighting up in excitement.

"I take it you're happy about this?" he asked with a slight chuckle.

Nodding her head at him, she couldn't help but smirk to herself that her plan to get him and Jenny together worked. Even when Abby told her that it seemed like a lost cause, or with Maddie being in a coma and not able to help her plot and plan-she still got her wish. "Yeah, I really like her. She reminds me of Mom a little bit."

"How?" he asked, unable to stop the question from escaping.

"Well, not in ways that I forget Mom, but like being here when my arm was in that sling, taking me shopping," she said, before looking down at the floor. "That night you didn't answer your phone when I was staying with Abby. When I got to Jenny's that night, she rubbed my head like Mom used to whenever I was sick."

"Good, I'm glad you feel that she can comfort you," he said, hugging her to him. "Now listen, you can't be telling people at NCIS about me and Jen."

"How come?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Thinking of how to word it without going over her head, he was about to answer when he realized that she would understand the real reason. "They wouldn't like that I'm in a relationship with someone on my team."

"Don't you think they'll figure it out?"

"Just for right now, Kel, don't say anything to them."

Grumbling lightly under her breath she nodded, "All right, I won't say anything."

****NCIS****

By the time Gibbs had left, Jenny had a million thoughts racing through her mind. 'Were she and Gibbs just the occasional hot sex hook-up? Could they really have a future together? Would he drive her nuts now that he was her boyfriend/lover?'

She kept asking herself all the usual questions, but the one that scared her the most, the one that she didn't want to see a negative outcome for—would she and Gibbs still be able to be cordial to each other at work and for Kelly's sake if things were to end between them?

There was technically no rule stating that agents couldn't be in a relationship, so she knew that if NCIS did find out about her and Gibbs, the most she would have to do is take some crap from Stan and Will, possibly even Pacci. The whole time, even before the events of the night before, she had been concerned for Kelly. She knew that no matter how well adjusted Kelly was, that Gibbs revolving door of marriages and now bringing her into their lives would be confusing for her.

A small part of her had thought of the ramifications for herself. 'Jethro doesn't really know why you became an NCIS agent. Would he really and truly understand your reasons for joining NCIS? Should you risk telling him about La Grenouille? Is it something you should be telling him this early on?' Shaking her head clear, she set about taking a shower and going over to his house later that night for dinner with him and Kelly.

****NCIS****

A couple hours later, Kelly was upstairs listening to a new CD she had gotten and was talking excitedly to Maddie on the phone. "Dad and Jenny are together!" she exclaimed, trying to keep her voice down, but she was too excited.

"Seriously?" Maddie questioned, like Kelly, having thought that Gibbs and Jenny would never get together.

"Yes, our plan worked," she replied, not knowing that someone was standing outside her room and overhearing the phone conversation. "I just can't say anything to Abby or anyone else at NCIS. Dad said that there are people that may not like it, since they're on the same team and all."

Nodding lightly, Maddie was trying to get comfortable on her couch before voicing her opinion. "Yeah, I guess I can see why they would want to keep it quiet. They guys may think G-man is playing favorites."

"Well, I won't keep you. I know your mom said you had just taken your pain medicine. I wanted to tell you the good news though."

"All right, call me tomorrow sometime. Maybe you can come over."

"Okay, bye."

Jenny had gone upstairs to Kelly's room when she'd first gotten to the house. Figuring they could have a talk in private, she wasn't expecting to hear Kelly on the phone. When she heard her excitement about 'their plan to get Jenny and Gibbs together,' she momentarily panicked, thinking she was talking to Abby. Hearing her tell the caller they can't say anything at NCIS, she figured out she was talking to Maddie. Going downstairs, she was shaking her head in slight amusement.

"What's so funny?" Gibbs asked, seeing her walking into the kitchen.

"I went upstairs to talk to Kelly, and I overheard her on the phone with Maddie," she chuckled, hooking a finger onto his belt loop. "She and Maddie had apparently concocted a plan to get us together. So they think their plan has worked."

"What plan?" he asked dumbly. "They had nothing to do with us getting together."

"Jethro, if you think about it there were little things that they tried to do to get us together."

Before he could say anything else, Kelly came bounding into the kitchen. "Jenny, you're here," she said, going over and hugging her. "Dad told me you guys are dating now."

"Yes, we are," she said, knowing she would be asking a foolish question, but Kelly didn't know she'd overheard her phone conversation. "Are you okay with that?"

Nodding her head lightly, she went over and sat at the table. "You remind me a lot of my mom," she said, turning to look up at her.

"Kelly, I want you to know I'm not going to try and replace your mother," she said, moving to sit beside her. "Your mom sounded like she was a wonderful person."

"She was," she answered honestly. "I know you're not trying to take her place, but there are just certain things and ways that make you remind me of her. She'd be glad you make me and Daddy happy."

"Well you both make me happy too," she said, smiling tearfully at her.

"Are you guys going to get married?" she asked, causing Gibbs to choke on the sip of bourbon he just took and Jenny to look away-a hint of a blush on her face.

"Kel, we just started dating," Gibbs said, shaking his head at his daughter's excitement.

"Yeah, but you guys are like perfect for each other. Kinda like Jack and Rose in 'Titanic,' just minus Jack dying at the end. They fought to be together, and if he hadn't drowned, they would have been."

"Sweetie, let's just take things one day at a time for right now," Jenny said, trying not to laugh at the look on her boyfriend's face. Was it odd to think of him as a boyfriend, not as a lover? Were they too old to be boyfriend and girlfriend? Shaking her head clear of those random thoughts, she walked over to where Gibbs was standing. "You may want to turn off the burner, I think the spaghetti noodles are done now," she joked, as the water was starting to boil over the top of the pan.

"Damn it," he grumbled.

Jenny and Kelly both laughed at him and set about getting the table ready for dinner-as they seemed to settle in almost like a new family.

****NCIS****

Later that night, after Kelly had gone up to bed, Gibbs and Jenny were sitting comfortably on the couch. Both were feeling rather content, as they got used to the newness of their relationship. "Jethro, can I ask you a question?" She turned a bit to look him in the eye.

"You can ask; doesn't necessarily mean I'll answer," he replied, running his fingers through her hair.

"When you showed up at my house last night," she started, smiling softly at the closeness she felt with him, "Did you come over there with the intent to get me into bed?"

"No, I came over to get you to stay," he said, holding her gaze with his.

"The sex was just a bonus?" she joked, draping her legs over his lap. "Well, how are we going to keep the others from finding out about us?"

Massaging her calf lightly, he leaned forward and pecked her lips. "We just act normal around them. If they don't see that I'm treating you any different, then they won't pick up on anything."

Moaning softly at his strong yet surprisingly tender touch on her leg, Jenny leaned her head against her hand, mumbling something incoherently.

Gibbs looked at her questioningly.

She smiled. "I asked how is it that things are already so different with you than they have ever been for me when I've had boyfriends before?"

"Don't know," he mumbled, as he continued working meticulously on his massage.

"You don't seem nervous about this," she observed, looking at him intently. "Do you ever get nervous about anything?"

"Nope, not really," he answered, looking back up at her. "Look, if we just go about things like we always have, then nobody will be any the wiser about it. You just can't say anything to Abby. It will get blabbed all over the building if you do."

"Monday should be a fun day," she muttered, knowing that Abby would be grilling her about the weekend and the possible relationship with the 'older man she liked.' All Jenny could do was hope that Abby wouldn't try and bait her into telling any more about the man. If she could just get her to think that she's decided to move on, then she might stand a chance of being able to keep this relationship quiet for a while. Besides, sneaking around, stealing moments with Gibbs at NCIS could have its perks, right?


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize I do not own. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait on an update. I was sick for most of January and didn't really start feeling better till around Valentine's Day. Then I switched Internet providers and the Internet didn't work on my computer so it's been a struggle to get this to my beta and posted. Hopefully things start going better soon. Thank you all for being patient with me.

****NCIS****

Kelly had woken up the morning she was supposed to go back to school, her nerves having been sent into high gear at the thought. Getting out of bed, she got her outfit ready for the day, deciding to wear the skull and crossbones shirt and jacket that she'd gotten from Abby for Christmas, along with the pink and black pleated skirt that Jenny had gotten her. Once she was dressed, she went downstairs and had been sort of startled to see Jenny there, as she hadn't been when Kelly had gone to bed the night before.

"Jenny, what are you doing here?" she asked, going over and getting a bowl and the cereal she liked down from the cupboard.

"I told your dad that I would ride with you guys to take you to school today, if you wanted," she replied, looking over at her. "Do you feel like you're ready to go back?"

"Right now I'd say yeah. I felt like that when I went back before," she replied with a shrug. "It's when we get outside the school that I feel different."

"Well remember, if you don't feel like you can go back, you don't have to."

"I know," she replied. "Thanks for being here, Jenny."

"You're welcome, sweetie."

****NCIS****

By the time Kelly had gotten into the sedan, her nerves had gotten the best of her again. Needless to say, the car ride to school was quiet, at least on her part. Both Gibbs and Jenny tried making conversation with her, but the closer they got to the building, the less frequent her answers came. Once Gibbs had pulled up out front, he put the car in park and turned around to look at her.

"Kel, if you don't think you can do this tell me now," he said, making her look him in the eye. "If you can't, it's all right. We'll go to NCIS, and you can hang out in Abby's lab today."

"I don't know," she mumbled, her gaze not leaving the building. "I mean, I know if I don't go in there, I'm never going to get over being afraid."

"Kelly, listen to me," Jenny said, turning around to look at her as well. "This is not something to just jump back into head first. If you feel like you're panicking, then we'll go to NCIS like your dad said. It's not worth it for you to force yourself to go into the school if you don't feel that you can."

Messing with the straps of her backpack nervously, Kelly took a deep breath before looking up at her dad and Jenny. "Can I call you to come get me, if I don't think I can stay here?"

"Yes, if you don't think you can stay, I will come get you," Gibbs promised.

"All right, I'll go inside," she said, opening the door to get out.

"I'll see you later, Kel," Gibbs said, watching as she adjusted her bag over her shoulder. "Love you."

"Love you too," she replied, before looking at Jenny. "Thanks for coming with us, Jenny."

"You're welcome."

"Hmm," she sighed. She closed the door and headed up toward the school. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and walked inside. Going toward the office, to find out her new classrooms-she had to close her eyes and try not to look toward the East Wing, afraid of what it would make her think of.

****NCIS****

Gibbs and Jenny were headed toward the Navy Yard, before Jenny finally started talking. "You think Kelly's going to be okay today?"

"I hope so," he replied, not sure what else to do to help her.

"I think as long as nobody asks her too many questions, making her have to think about the day, she'll be all right."

"I wish I could have kept her out till Maddie went back, but they're not sure how much longer she'll be out," he said, knowing that a lot of Kelly's hesitance came from not having Maddie there with her.

"Is she going over to the Tyler house after school?" Jenny asked, as he pulled into the lot at the Navy Yard.

"Yeah, she doesn't like staying home by herself now, not that she ever really liked it before."

Running her fingers through his slightly graying hair, Jenny leaned over and kissed him softly. "Let's just go in and work, and not worry about anything until we have to. It's like Ducky told you, if Kelly sees that all of us are slowly going back to normal, then her life will too. There's no sense in letting ourselves worry when we haven't even heard from her yet. We dropped her off twenty minutes ago; we watched her go into the building so we know she's there. When she gets home from school, she'll call you and you can decide then if you need to go home early or whatever," she said quietly, making him look over at her.

"Yeah, you're right," he replied, kissing her again before he went to open his door. "How are we going to hide us from Decker and Burley?"

"Do you trust me to handle it?" she asked, having an idea for what she could say to the guys. She knew that the silly school-girl smirk was not going to leave her face anytime soon, especially if she looked across and saw Gibbs staring at her. Plus it would help with her story to Abby, especially since the Goth knew that Jenny had feelings for 'an older man' already.

"Sure, knock yourself out."

Walking into the building, Gibbs and Jenny both showed their I.D.'s and went on their way to the elevator. "I'm going to go see Abby, so I'll meet you up in the squad room," she said, seeing his questioning look when she pushed the button for the basement, and he had pushed the button to go upstairs.

"Okay, I'll see you then," he replied, as the elevator dinged signaling that it was the one to go down to the basement.

****NCIS****

By the time lunch had rolled around, Kelly was feeling a little bit better about being back in school. Nobody had really asked her too much, a lot of their friends were asking about Maddie and how she was, which Kelly was okay with answering. Sitting down at her usual table, she was startled a bit when someone sat down next to her.

"Hey Kelly," Kevin Mitchell, a boy that Kelly had had a crush on since sixth grade, and had been friends with since both she and Maddie were in grade school, said. "Glad to see you back finally; it seemed weird without you or Maddie here."

"Hey Kevin," she replied, looking over at him. "It's weird being back actually. I mean, I'm not as freaked out about it as I was, but it's still a little weird."

"I bet," he said, as he opened his bottle of water. "Listen, would you maybe want to go see a movie this weekend?"

"Um, I'll have to ask my dad when I get home tonight," she replied, a swarm of butterflies in her stomach. "What movie did you want to see?"

"Dr. Doolittle is out," he said, as she nodded her head.

"Yeah, I've wanted to go see it for a while," she replied, smiling over at him. "Can I call you tonight and let you know?"

"Sure, tell your dad that my mom can take us and pick us up," he said, before getting up from the table as Kelly's friends started walking over.

By the time lunch had finished, Kelly was getting a headache. Her friends were going on and on about Maddie and everything she was going through, which Kelly knew would drive her nuts if she knew they were talking about her like that. Toward the end of lunch though, they had started in on why Kevin was over there talking to her. She just wanted to curl up and ignore them, but she knew she couldn't. She knew they meant well, but she had known Kevin since kindergarten practically, and she didn't really care if he wasn't the most popular kid in their class. It amazed her that she could be such good friends with people who were as shallow as they were. The only thing she could hope for would be that Jenny would spend the night at their house again, so she could talk to her and get her advice on what to do, plus she could maybe help keep her dad rational when she asked if she could go to a movie with Kevin that weekend.

****NCIS****

Around two thirty that afternoon, Gibbs started looking at his phone anxiously, well as anxious as he would ever admit to being. He knew Kelly should be getting to the Tyler's any time, and he could only hope and pray that she had a good day at school.

"Boss, staring at your phone isn't going to make it ring any quicker," Burley said, causing Decker and Jenny to shoot him incredulous looks.

"Jesus Stan, do you have a death wish or something?" Jenny muttered, going over and grabbing a file out of the cabinet she needed.

Looking over at Gibbs sheepishly, Burley cringed as he saw the 'stare' he was getting from their boss. It was a lot angrier than any he'd ever seen before. "Sorry, I just meant that you are going to drive yourself crazy if you stare at the phone."

Chuckling lightly, Decker responded in short. "That's it, tell the man who is your boss and has a gun to kill you, that he will go crazy if he stares at his phone."

Before anyone else could say something, Gibbs phone rang. "Yeah, Gibbs," he said, hoping that it was Kelly calling and not a case.

"Hey Dad," Kelly said, sounding a lot better than he had heard her in a few months. "I'm at Maddie's now, got a lot of homework to catch up on."

"Well how was school?" he asked, hoping by the sound of her voice that things had gone okay.

Sighing softly, she sank back into the couch before answering. "It was okay. People pretty much left me alone, which was good," she said, letting out a deep breath she didn't know she was holding. "Of course, once I got to lunch, all of my friends were questioning me about Maddie and what all happened to her. Seems like they heard different stories and things. All they like to do is talk about people."

"Sweetie, that's how some teenagers are," he said, knowing that she disliked those types of people.

"I know," she grumbled lightly, before pushing it to the back of her mind. "Is Jenny around?"

"Yeah, did you want to talk to her?" he asked, waving Jenny over to his desk.

"If she's not busy, I just want to ask her something."

Nodding lightly, he had a feeling he knew what she wanted to talk to her about, and it wasn't something he could just ask her across the squad room. "Yeah, she's not busy," he replied. "I'll see you in a couple hours. Love you, Kel."

"Love you too, Dad," she replied, waiting for Jenny to take over talking.

"Hey, Kelly, how was your day?" she asked, hoping to not tip off Decker or Burley at all.

"It was okay," she replied with a shrug. "Are you coming over to our house again tonight?"

"I can, yeah," she said, going over and sitting down at her desk.

"Great, see you tonight," she replied, before they both said good-bye and hung up. Taking the phone back over to Gibbs, she looked at him with a smirk. "See, I told you she was going to do fine."

"Get back to work, Shepard," he said, pointing over to her desk, making her walk away chuckling.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize I do not own. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Okay so I am back to not having anything pre-written for this story. However, I do have a ton of ideas ready to go for now. If everything goes well, I should be able to start working on it after work tomorrow and all day Friday. Thanks again for being so patient with me while I get back to writing this. It is much appreciated.

****NCIS****

Kelly had just finished up with her English homework that she was behind on, when Gibbs and Jenny came to the Tyler home to get her. Maddie had been asleep pretty much the whole time Kelly was there, having taken some of her painkillers after getting home from the doctor. Kelly didn't have a chance to talk to her about what happened at school that day.

"You ready to go Kel?" Gibbs asked, as he waited for her to gather her things up.

"Yeah, I finished my English homework, so I'm caught up now in that class," she said, putting her coat on and grabbing her book bag.

Nodding a bit to acknowledge that he heard her, he took her bag and shouldered it. "Go tell Mrs. Tyler that you're leaving now," he said, knowing she probably had no idea that he was there yet.

"All right." She headed out to the kitchen where Mrs. Tyler was fixing dinner. Telling her goodbye and her thanks, she asked her to tell Maddie to call her later if she felt up to it. After, she went back to her dad. "Is Jenny waiting in the car for us?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Not that I mind, but why did you want her to come over again tonight?"

"I just need to talk to her about some things," she replied quietly as they walked out to the sedan. Getting in the backseat, she smiled. "Hi Jenny."

"Hey sweetie," she replied. "I'm glad you had a good day at school."

"It was okay. I mean, it did feel weird being back in there again, but I didn't freak out as bad as I did the last time I tried to go back," she answered as Gibbs headed toward their nearby house. "My teachers said as long as I try and get as much of my work turned in before the semester is over, they'll just grade me on what I have done so far."

"That's good. How much more do you have to catch up on?"

Gibbs just let them continue to talk. He liked how they seemed to get along, and he was glad that Jenny could be that female figure Kelly needed in her life. He just hoped that nothing would happen that would cause them to break up; he wasn't sure how much more Kelly could go through.

"Well, my English and History are almost caught up, cause those are easy classes for me," she replied, as they pulled into their driveway. "Math and Science I have a lot to catch up with. I'm not too good in those classes, so I'm hoping that Maddie feels better enough tomorrow. She's awesome at Math."

"I'm sure you could call and ask Abby to come over and help you with Science if you wanted," Gibbs suggested as they got out and headed toward the house. "Do you have homework to do that is due tomorrow?"

"No, I got it all done at school," she replied, dropping her bag down by the door. "I just got all my make-up work to do. I mean, if I would have been back to school, and this shooting hadn't happened, then I most likely wouldn't have had homework anyway. I try and get it all done at school."

"Okay, I'll go and start dinner," he replied, as Kelly went upstairs to change and put her things away.

"Jenny, can I talk to you upstairs?" she asked, turning to look at her dad's girlfriend.

"Sure honey," she replied, following Kelly up to her room. "What's up?"

Going over and sitting down on her bed, she tried to figure out how to say what she needed to. She wasn't sure if it was a date or if she and Kevin were just going to the movies as friends, something they had been since they were little kids. "One of my friends asked me to go to the movies on Saturday."

"Okay," Jenny replied, looking a little confused, although she had a small hunch that the friend may be a boy but she didn't want to make Kelly uncomfortable by just asking that.

"Well the thing is, we've been friends since Kindergarten, so I'm not sure if he asked me as just friends or if it's a date," she replied.

"Sweetie, I don't want to tell you it sounds like a date and he doesn't mean it that way and then you are hurt," she started to answer slowly. "However, that doesn't mean he isn't thinking of it that way as well. If you guys have been friends since you were five, then chances are he has a crush on you."

"So what am I supposed to do?" she asked, not sure what was expected of her if it was a date.

"Well, you are friends with Kevin, right?"

"Yeah, he's been friends with me and Maddie since we were little," she replied, biting her lip lightly. "I just don't want things to be weird between us."

"Then you go to the movies with no expectations for anything," she advised lightly. "That way, if he doesn't mean it as anything more than just two friends hanging out, you aren't going to be hurt by it."

"What if he thinks it is a date?" she asked, still more than nervous about that prospect.

"Well," she started, not entirely sure what to tell her. It wasn't like Kelly was really her daughter; she wasn't even sure what Gibbs thought about her 'dating' at thirteen. "Then you only do what you are comfortable with. If you want to hold his hand, do it. However, don't let him pressure you into something you are way too young to be doing."

"Thanks Jenny," she replied, leaning over and hugging her.

"However, you need to talk to your dad about this," she said, knowing that Kelly was scared shitless to talk to him about boys. "I will be there if you want me to, but like I told you last fall-he's not going to want to acknowledge the fact you are growing up, but there is nothing he can do to stop it. If Kevin has been around as much as you say he has, then your dad must like him somewhat. Just don't let it freak you out to talk to him. He may be a gruff, tough, Marine-but he is still your dad and he loves you more than his own life."

"All right," she replied, smiling a bit and nodding. "I'll ask him at dinner if I can go Saturday."

****NCIS****

By the time Gibbs had gotten the spaghetti and salad ready for dinner, Jenny and Kelly had meandered back downstairs and were sitting in the living room watching TV. "Dinner's ready," he called, getting their attention. Hearing the TV click off, he set the plates out on the table for them.

"Do we have any parmesan cheese?" Kelly asked, as she sat down at the table.

"Yeah, there are some packets up in the cupboard," he replied as she got up to get them.

"Okay," she said, as she grabbed them down and went back to the table.

"Kel, don't forget you go back to piano lessons tomorrow and ballet on Thursday night," he said, as she was finally able to return to them now that her shoulder was healed and the holidays were over.

"All right," she replied, as she had been looking forward to getting back into them. "Are you going to be able to take me tomorrow?"

"Yeah, if I can't then I'll have Jenny come get you," he said, as Jenny looked over at him. "If you don't mind that is," he said, seeing the look on her face.

"No, I don't mind," she replied, shaking her head. "I am just curious how you will send me, if you are too busy to go. Wouldn't I be too busy as well?"

"Yeah, Dad, you guys ARE on the same team and all," Kelly laughed, seeing where Jenny was going with this.

"Oh hush up, you two," he grumbled lightly, making both of them giggle even more.

"Daddy, can I ask you for a favor?" Kelly asked, hoping if she sounded cutesy enough that he would let her go out on Saturday.

"What Kel?" he asked, willing to do just about anything for her, as he realized how close he came to losing her a couple months before.

"Can I go to the movies Saturday?" she asked, hoping he wouldn't ask who was going.

Nodding his head, he took a swig of his beer before verbally answering, "Sure, I don't see why not. Who all is going?"

Looking back down at her plate, she mumbled, "Me and Kevin."

"Is this a date?" he asked, hearing Jenny cough sharply and shoot him a look, hoping he wouldn't make Kelly uncomfortable.

"I don't know," she replied honestly, as she continued twirling her noodles around the fork, making it almost impossible to put the bite in her mouth.

Nodding his head lightly, he could feel Jenny's eyes boring into the side of his head, basically letting him know that he needed to keep his reaction neutral so Kelly wouldn't be scared of ever talking to him like that again. "I don't see why you can't. Do you know what movie you're going to see?"

"Um, I think Dr. Doolittle," she replied, her head snapping up in surprise at his answer. "Kevin said his mom can take us and pick us up."

"All right, well it sounds good to me. We have weekend duty anyway," he said, making Kelly let out a sigh of relief that he wouldn't be there to embarrass her in front of Kevin.

****NCIS****

Later that night, Gibbs and Jenny were lying in bed, having spent a good hour making love in the shower before they finally stumbled out into the room. "I'm glad you didn't make Kelly uncomfortable tonight, when she was talking to you about Kevin," she said, laying her head on his chest. "She was so nervous about asking you if she could go."

"Why?" He threaded his fingers through her hair. "It's not like I don't know him. I threatened him once when he was about nine, that if he hurt Kelly ever I would hurt him."

"Jethro, you threatened a child?" she asked in complete shock. She sat up and looked at him. "I'm surprised his parents didn't throw you in jail."

"Well, it helps that Kevin has a younger sister and an older one, so his dad knew how I was feeling," he replied with a chuckle. "They weren't too upset."

"Oh my God," she laughed, shaking her head as she fell back down beside him. "You are more psychotic than I ever thought you were."

"Because I want to protect my daughter?" He asked incredulously.

"No, because you threatened a nine year old CHILD," she laughed, before letting out a little shriek as he pounced on top of her. "What are you going to do?"

"This," he replied, acting like he was going to tickle her, making her shriek again, before he claimed her lips with his.

****NCIS****

By the time Saturday rolled around, Kelly's stomach was a ball of nerves again. Standing in front of her closet, she was trying to decide what to wear. Grabbing a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve white shirt, she tossed them on her bed, before grabbing the navy blue cardigan sweater from her desk chair. Going to get in the shower, she quickly finished and went back to her room to get dressed. Hearing her dad and Jenny downstairs, she went down and fixed herself a bowl of cereal.

"What time are Kevin and his mom picking you up?" Gibbs asked as she sat down at the table.

"The movie starts at 12:30, and Mrs. Mitchell is picking me up at 11:15 so we can go get something for lunch before she takes us to the movies," she replied. She took a bite of her cereal. "I should be home by 3:00, I think."

"That's fine," he replied, pouring himself and Jenny a couple to-go cups of coffee. "We should be back by then. If not, just call me when you get home and I'll tell you if you need to go over to Maddie's."

"Okay," she said, as she pushed her cereal down into the milk, hoping to get it sufficiently soggy.

"How can you eat your cereal like that?" Jenny asked, shaking her head lightly in amusement.

"Simple, I open my mouth and put the spoon in with a bite, and chew it up and swallow it," she laughed, as Jenny gave her a slightly bewildered look before laughing as well.

"You got me there," she laughed.

Gibbs leaned down and kissed the top of Kelly's head, before they both said goodbye and headed to work.

****NCIS****

By the time Kelly and Kevin arrived at the movie theatre, they were both joking around with each other, which helped calm her nerves down. It was like they were still the same friends they'd always been, just that they were on a 'friend' date. She had actually enjoyed herself, something she hadn't done since before the shooting. When his mom had dropped Kelly at home, Kevin got out and walked her to the door.

"Are you sure you want to stay here alone?" he asked as Kelly got her key out of her pocket.

"Yeah, my dad should be back home soon. The weekend duty is until five, then he's on call," she said, looking over at him. When she did, she saw an unreadable look on his face. Before she could ask him what was wrong, he had leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips before backing away.

"I had a really good time today Kelly," he said softly, looking her in the eye.

"So did I," she replied, smiling at him faintly. "I'll see you at school on Monday."

"Okay," he said, as she let herself inside and he walked back to his mom's car.


End file.
